Biodegradable Intervertebral Disc Implant for Height Restoration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Intervertebral disc derangements, such as degenerative disc disease, lead to severe back pain and nerve compression due to changes in the disc's macromolecular structure, often requiring invasive surgical interventions like spinal fusion or artificial disc replacement, which come with complications like disc migration and wear.
Innovation Solution
An intervertebral disc implant with an expandable pouch that can be intraoperatively and postoperatively filled with a growth matrix, allowing directional growth to restore disc height, comprising a biocompatible, biodegradable material with strategically arranged pores for controlled permeation and diffusion, facilitating the implant's deployment and refilling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If surgical intervention such as discectomy, laminectomy, or spinal fusion is performed to relieve nerve pressure and pain, then pain relief and nerve decompression are achieved, but the native biomechanics of the intervertebral disc are permanently altered or lost
Solution Approach 1:
The implant system extracts only the herniated or degenerated nucleus pulposus material while preserving the healthy annulus fibrosus and endplates, thereby relieving nerve compression while maintaining the native disc structure and biomechanics. This selective removal avoids the need for fusion or replacement that would alter spinal mechanics.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant changes the physical and chemical parameters of the disc space by introducing a biodegradable scaffold that gradually transforms from a rigid structural support to a softer, more compliant material as it degrades, mimicking the natural progression of native disc tissue and preserving biomechanical function throughout the healing process.
2Stability of the object's composition
If artificial disc replacement is performed to preserve native biomechanics, then motion and cushioning are maintained, but complications such as disc migration, subsidence, and polyethylene wear occur
Solution Approach 1:
The implant uses a biodegradable scaffold designed to temporarily perform the load-bearing function during the critical healing period, then gradually degrade and be absorbed by the body. This temporary support structure avoids the long-term complications of permanent artificial discs while still providing necessary mechanical stability during tissue regeneration.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant's mechanical properties dynamically change over time as it degrades, transitioning from high structural support in the acute phase to progressively softer mechanics as native tissue regenerates, ultimately eliminating the need for permanent foreign bodies and associated long-term complications.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the nucleus pulposus is completely removed through discectomy to relieve symptoms, then nerve compression is reduced, but disc height loss and spinal instability increase
Solution Approach 1:
The biodegradable scaffold acts as an intermediary structure that temporarily occupies the space of the removed nucleus pulposus, providing mechanical support to maintain disc height and prevent collapse during the critical period when the annulus fibrosus is healing and regenerating its contents.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant is placed beforehand to provide immediate structural support and prevent disc height loss, creating a stable environment for tissue regeneration before the body can naturally rebuild the nucleus pulposus, thereby avoiding the instability and deformity that would otherwise occur with complete nucleus removal.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If spinal fusion is performed to eliminate compression from disc motion, then pain from motion-related compression is relieved, but adjacent disc degeneration accelerates due to altered motion characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The procedure extracts only the problematic herniated material while preserving the functional disc structure, thereby eliminating the source of nerve compression without eliminating the disc's motion-cushioning function, thus avoiding the stress redistribution that leads to adjacent disc degeneration seen in fusion procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The implant effectively restores disc height and reduces pain by promoting natural growth within the disc space, potentially reducing the need for revision surgeries and maintaining spinal biomechanics, while being biocompatible and absorbable to avoid long-term complications.
Implementation Method 1
Various regions of the intervertebral disc implant may be differentially permeable to the growth matrix to provide directional growth and/or diffusion of the growth matrix
Implementation Method 2
Various regions of the intervertebral disc implant may be differentially permeable to the growth matrix to provide directional growth and/or diffusion of the growth matrix
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments provide systems and methods for repairing or replacing intervertebral discs as a treatment for derangements. Systems and methods may comprise an inter vertebral disc implant for deployment into an intervertebral disc space wherein the nucleus has been at least partially evacuated from the deranged intervertebral disc. The intervertebral disc implant may be intraoperatively and postoperatively filled and/or re-filled with a growth matrix. The intervertebral disc implant may be differentially permeable to the growth matrix to provide directional growth and/or diffusion of the growth matrix to restore height to the intervertebral disc space. Systems and methods may further comprise an implant delivery device for deploying the intervertebral disc implant into the intervertebral disc space.