Bone treatment systems and methods
First Claim
1. A method for treating bone, comprising:
- providing a flowable infill material for infill of an interior region of a bone;
loading the infill material into an injector system having a portion positionable within the bone, the injector system comprising a heating element therein and at least one outlet port;
controllably applying energy from an energy source to the infill material via the heating element contemporaneously with flowing of the infill material through the injector system and before introducing the flowable infill material into the bone, the applied energy selectively increasing the viscosity of the infill material; and
introducing the flowable infill material having the selectively increased viscosity into the bone while controlling the viscosity of the flow of infill material through the controlled application of energy, the introduction of flowable infill material being controlled causing flowing of the flowable infill material, along a flow path through cancellous bone and interdigitating with cancellous bone, in the flow path wherein between an outer region of the flow path and the at least one outlet port in the flow path, the flow path comprises flowable infill material interdigitating with cancellous bone.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates in certain embodiments to medical devices for treating osteoplasty procedures such as vertebral compression fractures. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to instruments and methods for controllably restoring vertebral body height by controlling the geometry of fill material introduced into cancellous bone. An exemplary system utilizes Rf energy in combination a conductive bone fill material for polymerizing the surface of the inflow plume to control the geometry of the fill material and the application of force caused by inflows of fill material. In another embodiment, method of treating bone includes injecting a volume of fill material into a bone and selectively modifying a viscosity of a selected portion of the bone filler to control the direction of flow of the fill material within the bone. A system for treating bone using this method includes an introducer for delivering fill material into the bone and an energy source selectively coupleable to the fill material to alter the viscosity of the fill material as it flows out of the introducer.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method for treating bone, comprising:
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providing a flowable infill material for infill of an interior region of a bone; loading the infill material into an injector system having a portion positionable within the bone, the injector system comprising a heating element therein and at least one outlet port; controllably applying energy from an energy source to the infill material via the heating element contemporaneously with flowing of the infill material through the injector system and before introducing the flowable infill material into the bone, the applied energy selectively increasing the viscosity of the infill material; and introducing the flowable infill material having the selectively increased viscosity into the bone while controlling the viscosity of the flow of infill material through the controlled application of energy, the introduction of flowable infill material being controlled causing flowing of the flowable infill material, along a flow path through cancellous bone and interdigitating with cancellous bone, in the flow path wherein between an outer region of the flow path and the at least one outlet port in the flow path, the flow path comprises flowable infill material interdigitating with cancellous bone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for treating bone, comprising:
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providing a flowable bone fill material; controllably applying energy from an energy source to the bone fill material, wherein the application of energy selectively increases the viscosity of the bone fill material; and introducing a volume of the fill material having selectively increased viscosity into an interior of a bone while controlling the viscosity of the flow of flowable bone fill material through the controlled application of energy, the introduction of the volume of the bone fill material being controlled causing flowing of the flowable bone fill material, along a flow path that controllably interdigitates and permeates with a cancellous bone portion of the bone, the fill material being introduced along the flow path without previously creating a cavity which compresses or compacts the cancellous bone portion. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method for treating a vertebral body, comprising:
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providing a bone fill material and an injector system having a portion positionable within the vertebral body, the injector system comprising a heating element therein and the bone fill material being loaded in the injector system; positioning a portion of the injector system within the vertebral body; controllably applying energy from an energy source to the bone fill material via the heating element before introducing the bone fill material into the bone, the applied energy selectively increasing viscosity of the bone fill material; and introducing a volume of the bone fill material through an outlet port of the injector system into cancellous bone of the vertebral body while controlling the viscosity of the flow of bone fill material through the controlled application of energy, the introduction of the volume of the bone fill material being controlled causing flowing of the flowable bone fill material along a flow path that, controllably interdigitates with the cancellous bone and follows the flow path interdigitating and permeating through cancellous bone, an outer region of the flow path surrounding interdigitated cancellous bone located in the flow path between the outer region and the outlet port. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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Specification