Prosthesis (i.e. – artificial body members) – parts thereof – or ai – Implantable prosthesis – Bone
Patent
1998-07-13
2000-08-01
Yu, Mickey
Prosthesis (i.e., artificial body members), parts thereof, or ai
Implantable prosthesis
Bone
623901, 606 79, A61F 244
Patent
active
060960817
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides a novel dowel machined from the cortex of bone diaphyses and methods of use thereof.
2. Background
It is common for patients presenting with spinal trauma or pathology to require the fusion of two or more vertebra. In the art, a standard solution to this problem is to create a cavity between two adjacent vertebra to accept the insertion of a dowel made from bone or another material. For this purpose, a dowel known as the Cloward Dowel has been in use for many years. That device is a generally circular pin made by drilling an allogeneic or autogenic plug from the cancellous bone of the ilium (i.e., the hip bone). As such, this bone has two cortical surfaces (i.e., it is bicortical) and has an open, latticed or porous structure between the two cortical surfaces. Unfortunately, such dowels have very poor biomechanical properties, principally being susceptible to compression. Accordingly, such dowels present the major danger of collapsing prior to fusion of the adjacent vertebra between which such a dowel is inserted.
A dowel of greater biomechanical properties has been produced from allogeneic femoral or tibial condyles (i.e., the rounded prominence at the end of the femur or tibia where such bones articulate with other bones). The result of drilling a plug from such a condyle is a unicortical dowel. Such unicortical dowels are available from most tissue banks, including the University of Florida Tissue Bank, Inc. (see, for example, our Allograft Catalog, product numbers 280012, 280014, and 280016; this catalog and these products are available on request by calling 904-462-3097, or by calling 1-800-OAGRAFT, or by writing to the University of Florida Tissue Bank, Inc. 1 Progress Boulevard, P.O. Box 31, S. Wing, Alachua, Fla. 32615). While such unicortical dowels represent a major advance over the bicortical dowels of Cloward, desribed above, from a biomechanical point of view, the biomechanical properties of the diaphysial cortical dowel of the instant invention is expected to represent a substantial improvement over the unicortical dowels, due to the greater density of source bone, as will be evident from a reading of the full disclosure which follows.
In addition to the known Cloward and unicortical dowels, a number of U.S. Patents have been found dealing with the general area of dowels for achieving vertebral fusions. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,247 discloses a threaded spinal implant which, when placed between two adjacent vertebrae, directly participates and is incorporated in the ensuing fusion. The implant is made of a hollow metal casing which is filled with osteogenic material. A plurality of perforations are provided in the casing so that bone can grow into and out of the implant. Metal threads and tabs are provided to insert and prevent backing out of the implant, respectively. However, the implant is made out of metal and thus is a foreign object which is inserted into the spine and is thus never fully incorporated into the fusion. Furthermore, as the implant is preferably made of titanium, production of the implant requires the use of specialized metal molding and machining, and production of the implant material itself, which is expensive.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,853, a method of producing a prosthesis for replacement of articular cartilage and the prostheses so produced is disclosed. The prostheses of the '853 patent, principally designed for articulating cartilage replacement, are machined from allogenic or xenogeneic bones segments and then demineralized to produce a bone fragment with a spongy texture similar to natural cartilage. The prostheses are also tanned to render the material non-antigenic. While the methods of the '853 patent may be used to alter the properties of the diaphysial cortical dowel of the instant invention, and the disclosure of the '853 patent is herein incorporated by reference for that purpose, the '853 patent does not teach or suggest the novel device and method of the instant inve
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Carter Kevin
Dulebohn David
Grivas Nicholas E.
Grooms Jamie M.
Bencen, Esq. Gerald H.
Koh Choon P.
University of Florida Tissue Bank, Inc.
Van Dyke, Esq. Timothy H.
Yu Mickey
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