Bulk metallic glass medical instruments, implants, and methods of using same
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- US · United States
- Patent Type
- Applications(United States)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- HORTON JOSEPH A JR
- Publication Date
- 2003-06-19
- Estimated Expiration
- Not applicable · inactive patent
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Abstract
Description
[0001] This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 799,445, filed on Mar. 5, 2001, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
[0003] The present invention relates to medical, surgical, and dental hardware, especially medical instruments and biomedical appliances, and particularly to those instruments and appliances at least partially constructed of a bulk metallic glass (BMG), and to methods of using the same.
[0004] The concept of magnetic susceptibility is central to many current research and development activities in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For example, the development of MR-guided surgery has created a need for surgical instruments and other devices with susceptibility tailored to the MR environment; susceptibility effects can lead to position errors of up to several millimeters in MR-guided stereotactic surgery; and the variation of magnetic susceptibility on a microscopic scale within tissues contributes to MR con...