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Prosthetic apparatus and method

  • US 6,764,514 B1
  • Filed: 04/26/2000
  • Issued: 07/20/2004
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/26/1999
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A prosthetic intervertebral nucleus for implantation in a chamber of an intervertebral disc after removal of at least a portion of a damaged or degenerated nucleus from the chamber, the prosthetic nucleus comprising:

  • a wafer of biologically compatible, thin, flexible, and expandable material having a first substantially planar structural configuration defining a first thickness substantially less than a height of the disc chamber;

    said wafer having a second non-planar mechanically re-shaped structural configuration defining a cross-section sufficiently small to permit travel of said wafer through a cannula and into the disc chamber;

    said wafer substantially regaining the first structural configuration thereof by memory upon entry into the disc chamber; and

    said wafer having a third expanded structural configuration formed by a reaction to an expansion-inducing agent in the disc chamber, said third structural configuration defining a second thickness approximately equal to the height of the disc chamber.

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