Cutting Apparatus for Bioprocessing Bone

Abstract

A bone cutting assembly includes a manually actuated upper cutting element that carries a plurality of cutting blades configured to cut through frozen bone segments. A lower cutting element supports a bone segment to be cut and can include cutting blades aligned with the cutting blades of the upper cutting assembly. A pivoting linkage or a rack and pinion arrangement can be provided between the upper cutting element and a manually operated handle to provide sufficient mechanical advantage or leverage to allow an operator to manually cut through the bone.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001]This application is a utility filing from and claims priority to co-pending application No. 62 / 670,283, filed on May 11, 2018, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]The present disclosure concerns an apparatus useful for recovering live bone marrow.[0003]Bone marrow for clinical purposes is harvested from HLA matched siblings or optimally matched unrelated donors (MUD). Other graft sources are mismatched haploidentical related or unrelated donors and umbilical cord blood (CB). When transplanted into patients with certain diseases, the hematopoietic stern cells (HSCs) in the donor bone marrow engraft in the patient and reconstitute immune and hematopoietic systems.[0004]Bone marrow is also a source for mesenchymal stromal / stem cells (MSCs) which are self-renewing, multipotent progenitor cells with multilineage potential to differentiate into cell types of mesodermal origin, such as adipocytes, osteocytes, and chondrocyt...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes an apparatus for cutting and processing bones, either fresh or cryopreserved. The apparatus allows for easy cutting of bones into appropriate sizes for further processing or rapid thawing. It is designed to be manually operated with a lever arm or linkage arrangement providing a mechanical advantage. The apparatus includes upper and lower cutting elements with aligned cutting blades, and the upper element is pushed towards the lower element to cut through a bone segment. The apparatus is pivotably mounted to a handle, which is pushed downward to push the upper cutting element downward with a mechanical advantage. The technical effect of this invention is to provide a convenient and efficient tool for cutting and processing bones, allowing for easy recovery of bone marrow and other bone-related materials.

Problems solved by technology

This step is repeated many times, typically in both pelvic bones, and can often result in contamination of the aspirate.

Immediate cryopreservation of tissues is more practical than direct primary isolation of stem cells, which requires further processing and expense.

While cooling rates can readily be applied in a slow manner, warming large volumes of bone quickly is problematic.

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