177 results about "Bone structures" patented technology

An apparatus for facilitating fusion of adjacent vertebrae includes an implant body dimensioned for positioning within an intervertebral space between upper and lower vertebrae to maintain the vertebrae in desired spaced relation to facilitate fusion thereof. The implant body includes lower and upper surfaces for engaging the respective lower and upper vertebrae and first and second side wall portions extending between the upper and lower surfaces. The first and second side wall portions are substantially solid. At least one of the first and second side wall portions have a substantially narrow longitudinal slit defined therein arranged to enhance flexibility of the one side wall portion. Preferably, each of the first and second side wall portions includes a longitudinal slit. The implant body may define an internal chamber dimensioned for reception of bone growth inducing substances. The implant body includes an internal bore extending through the upper and lower surfaces for reception of bone growth inducing substances. Preferably, the internal bore is cylindrical shaped to receive a cylindrical bone dowel harvested during the surgical procedure, or alternatively, to receive a prepackaged cylindrical rod containing bone growth inducing substances. A plurality of internal bores may be provided in side by side relation.

Methods, systems, devices and tools for placing bone stabilization components in a patient are provided. The systems and devices have a reduced number of discrete components that allow placement through small incisions and tubes. More particularly, the present invention is directed to systems and methods of treating the spine, which eliminate pain and enable spinal motion, which effectively mimics that of a normally functioning spine. Methods are also provided for stabilizing the spine and for implanting the subject systems.

Methods, systems, devices and tools for placing bone stabilization components in a patient are provided. The systems and devices have a reduced number of discrete components that allow placement through small incisions and tubes. More particularly, the present invention is directed to systems and methods of treating the spine, which eliminate pain and enable spinal motion, which effectively mimics that of a normally functioning spine. Methods are also provided for stabilizing the spine and for implanting the subject systems.

The present invention discloses a structural and mechanical model and modeling methods for human bone based on bone's hierarchical structure and on its hierarchical mechanical behavior. The model allows for the assessment of bone deformations, computation of strains and stresses due to the specific forces acting on bone during function, and contemplates forces that do or do not cause viscous effects and forces that cause either elastic or plastic bone deformation.

The method of presenting concurrent information about the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart using non-invasively obtained electrical and mechanical cardiac activity data from the chest or thorax of a patient comprises the steps of: placing at least three active Laplacian ECG sensors at locations on the chest or thorax of the patient; where each sensor has at least one outer ring element and an inner solid circle element, placing at least one ultrasonic sensor on the thorax where there is no underlying bone structure, only tissue, and utilizing available ultrasound technology to produce two or three-dimensional displays of the moving surface of the heart and making direct measurements of the exact sites of the sensors on the chest surface to determine the position and distance from the center of each sensor to the heart along a line orthogonal to the plane of the sensor and create a virtual heart surface; updating the measurements at a rate to show the movement of the heart's surface; monitoring at each ultrasonic sensor site and each Laplacian ECG sensor site the position and movement of the heart and the passage of depolarization wave-fronts in the vicinity; treating those depolarization wave-fronts as moving dipoles at those sites to create images of their movement on the image of the beating heart's surface; and, displaying the heart's electrical activity on the dynamically changing image of the heart's surface with the goal to display an approximation of the activation sequence on the beating virtual surface of the heart

The invention relates to a device that can be used to monitor the penetration of a penetration member into anatomical structures and, in particular, bone structures of a living body, the structures having at least two different electrical impedance areas. The device is characterized in that it comprises: at least one impedance meter which can be connected to at least two electrodes, at least one of the electrodes being located at a distal end of the penetration member; and at least one alert device which can produce an alert signal if the impedance meter detects an impedance variation. The invention also relates to a penetration member for the device and to an electronic board for the device.

Methods of predicting fracture risk of a patient include: obtaining an image of a bone of the patient; determining one or more bone structure parameters; predicting a fracture line with the bone structure parameter; predicting a fracture load at which a fracture will happen; estimating body habitus of the patient; calculating a peak impact force on the bone when the patient falls; and predicting a fracture risk by calculating the ratio between the peak impact force and the fracture load. Inventive methods also includes determining the effect of a candidate agent on any subject's risk of fracture.

A dietary supplement for benefitting human bone health includes a calcium source, a source of vitamin D activity, and an osteoblast stimulant. A preferred calcium source is microcrystalline hydroxyapatite, which also contains protein (mostly collagen), phosphorus, fat, and other minerals. A preferred source of vitamin D activity is cholecalciferol, and a preferred osteoblast stimulant is ipriflavone. In addition to these basic ingredients, the composition can further include various other minerals known to occur in bone, vitamin C, and glucosamine sulfate, all of which exert beneficial effects on growth and maintenance of healthy bone. A method for benefitting human bone health involves administering a daily regimen of the dietary supplement.

A new conceptual biomedical method is presented for designing scaffold-based bone implants and using these implants in treating deteriorated bones. These implants have micro-architectural bone structures that are capable of mimicking the stochastic micro-structure as in natural bone bio-mineral structures. Moreover, they can be adapted as specific tailor-made compatible bone-repair mediator implants to be used as effective substitutes for natural damaged bone fracture structures.

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a probe configured to be percutaneously deployed within an interior portion of a bone structure. At least a portion of the probe is configured to contact a portion of the interior portion of the bone structure when the probe is actuated within the interior portion of the bone structure. The apparatus also includes a pressure indicator that is configured to provide pressure data associated with a pressure externally exerted on the probe when the probe is actuated within the interior portion of the bone structure. In some embodiments, the probe includes an expandable member. In some embodiments, the probe includes an expandable low-compliance balloon.

An apparatus includes an elongate body and an expandable member coupled to the elongate body. In one embodiment, the expandable member has a collapsed configuration, an unfolded configuration and an expanded configuration. The expandable member is configured to be percutaneously inserted into an interior portion of a bone structure when the expandable member is in the collapsed configuration. The expandable member is configured to exert a pressure in a vertical direction on a first portion of the bone structure in contact with the expandable member greater than a pressure exerted in a lateral direction on a second portion of the bone structure in contact with the expandable member when the expandable member transitions from the unfolded configuration to the expanded configuration.

An interbody spinal implant having at least three distinct surfaces including (1) at least one integration surface having a roughened surface topography including macro features, micro features, and nano features, without sharp teeth that risk damage to bone structures; (2) at least one graft contact surface having a coarse surface topography including micro features and nano features; and (3) at least one soft tissue surface having a substantially smooth surface including nano features. Also disclosed are processes of fabricating the different surface topographies, which may include separate macro processing, micro processing, and nano processing steps.

A technique is provided for automatically generating a bone mask in CTA angiography. In accordance with the technique, an image data set may be pre-processed to accomplish a variety of function, such as removal of image data associated with the table, partitioning the volume into regionally consistent sub-volumes, computing structures edges based on gradients, and/or calculating seed points for subsequent region growing. The pre-processed data may then be automatically segmented for bone and vascular structure. The automatic vascular segmentation may be accomplished using constrained region growing in which the constraints are dynamically updated based upon local statistics of the image data. The vascular structure may be subtracted from the bone structure to generate a bone mask. The bone mask may in turn be subtracted from the image data set to generate a bone-free CTA volume for reconstruction of volume renderings.

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are disclosed herein for virtually planning a cranial guided surgery in a subject. These include, in some embodiments, generating a first data set based on input data obtained of a reference structure having a defined fixed relation to a bone structure of said subject and generating a second data set based on input data obtained of a master structure for a surgical template, where the master structure has a defined relation to said reference structure. Further, in some embodiments, a third data set for production of said surgical can be generated based on the first data send and the second data set, wherein the relation of said reference structure to said master structure is preserved.

Phototherapy apparatus, incorporating interconnected radiation sources, such as diode laser cluster radiation devices, and method for bone healing, bone growth stimulation, and bone cartilage regeneration are disclosed. The method consists of applying the said radiation cluster apparatus conformally around the desired area of the bone to be treated and providing irradiation at appropriate wavelengths and power densities for a selected period of time to the said area of the bone structure to be treated. The apparatus incorporates a sufficient number of the diode laser cluster devices, or other appropriate light sources, which are adapted to be placed inside an appropriate brace (e.g., ankle brace or knee brace), or are embedded inside a reconfigurable foam, or are embedded inside deformable gel material, or are embedded within the cast, which facilitate radially-positioned sources for irradiation of the area to be treated.

A device for determining the internal structure of a bone along a path directed into the bone (or other tissue) is disclosed. The device comprises a nozzle fluidically connected to a liquid reservoir for providing a liquid jet directed at the bone in the direction of the path; an ultrasonic transducer for generating ultrasonic waves through the liquid jet and for detecting echoes of the ultrasonic waves caused by changes in the acoustical impedance in the bone characterizing changes in the structure of the bone along the path; and an analyzer for interpreting the echoes into meaningful information relating to the location of the structural changes along the path.