This invention relates to a vertebral column implant, comprising a connecting element and a multiplicity of bone screws, which are screwable into the vertebral bodies of the vertebral column and which are each provided with a head part for receiving the connecting element, with which head parts a firm connection is achievable between bone screw and connecting element, and the connecting element is able to be put together from rigid sections and elastic sections.
Vertebral column implants are known in the state of the art in diverse ways. One hereby distinguishes between two types of systems, namely stabilizing systems consisting of a rigid connecting element, which have as their goal a stiffening of the respective vertebral column, and elastic systems, with which a supporting stabilization of the vertebral bodies is achieved, a certain flexibility between the individual vertebral bodies being desired and allowed.
Rigid stabilization systems, which are known in a manifold way, have, as already mentioned, the goal that problematic vertebral bodies receive a stiffening, so that an osseous growing together of the affected vertebral bodies is achieved. In order to achieve an optimal stabilization, adjacent healthy vertebral bodies must also be included, in addition to the problematic vertebral bodies, which can result in the stiffening taking place over too great an area. Moreover it has often been noted that with the transition from stabilized to no longer stabilized vertebral bodies the load of the vertebral column is too great, so that at this transition point there can be damage as a result of too great a load on the adjacent vertebral bodies.
As has already been mentioned, through the known elastic systems, the vertebrae are stabilized in a supporting way, a certain flexibility between the vertebral bodies being desired and facilitated, however. This system has the drawback, however, that for greatly affected vertebral bodies, in which a stiffening would be desired, a stiffening cannot be attained with these elastic systems; an osseous growing together of the affected vertebral bodies cannot be achieved.
Known from US 2006/0142758 A1 is a combined system, in which elastic and rigid stabilization regions are used. Used here as the elastic stabilization element is a helical spring-synthetic material combination. This elastic stabilization element is connected to the screws via a pure clamping connection.
The object of the present invention is to create a vertebral column implant, with which it is possible to achieve regionally a rigid stabilization of the vertebral column, while in the bordering area the vertebral bodies are supported and stabilized through an elastic system, without a stiffening taking place, and which makes it possible in an optimal and simple way to connect the rigid and elastic elements.
This object is achieved according to the invention in that the rigid sections are connectable to the elastic sections via connecting devices, and the connecting devices are designed such that the rigid sections and elastic sections connected together in each case are aligned substantially coaxially, and the connection is form-fitting.
Created with this design of the invention is a modular system, in which the possibility exists of stabilizing adjacent vertebral bodies rigidly, while further adjacent vertebral bodies are elastically supported and stabilized, a limited possibility of movement being allowed. One thereby has diverse possibilities of stabilizing the vertebral column regionally in an elastic or rigid way, without the intervention on the patient becoming more complex. Thus achieved can be, for example, that the transition phase from rigidly stabilized vertebral bodies to the vertebral bodies no longer to be stabilized can be designed with more care via an elastically stabilized region in the transition area. At least a partial load relief of the affected vertebral bodies can thus be achieved in the area of transition from the rigidly stabilized vertebral bodies to the no longer stabilized vertebral bodies. With this modular vertebral column implant, optimally adapted solutions in each individual case thus result in which the connections between the rigid sections and the elastic sections are optimal through form-locking.
Since the connecting devices are designed such that the rigid sections and the elastic sections connected together in each case are aligned substantially coaxially, great advantages and simplification result during insertion of implants assembled from such rigid and elastic sections.
The rigid sections are preferably made of a metal alloy, in particular a titanium alloy, which results in an optimal tolerance in the patients treated with such implants.
The elastic sections are preferably made of a biocompatible synthetic material, in particular based on polyurethane, whereby the surface can be provided with encircling ribs and grooves.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention consists in that the connecting devices are formed by a U-shaped bow made of a rigid material, which connecting devices have at the bottom of the bow and along the inner side of the legs grooves and ribs corresponding to the ribs and grooves of the elastic sections. Through the co-operation of the ribs and grooves in the connecting device of the elastic section and of the U-shaped bow a firm, form-fitting connection is obtained. A pressing of the elastic section, which would be necessary with a clamping connection, and which could lead to a viscoelasticity of the elastic section, can thereby be avoided.
Preferably the U-shaped bow with the inserted elastic section is lockable with a locking piece which is insertable between the legs of the bow and is held via engagement means. A very simple procedure is thereby obtained for insertion and holding of the elastic section in the U-shaped bow, which can have a positive effect on the duration of the operative intervention.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention consists in that the locking piece has on the side facing the section ribs and grooves that correspond to the ribs and grooves of the elastic section when the locking piece is in the inserted state. Thus the locking piece also contributes to the form-fitting connection between the elastic section and the U-shaped bow in an optimal way.
The connecting devices are preferably attached in each case at an end of a rigid section or at the head part of a screw. An optimal configuration of these connecting devices results therefrom. The connecting together of the different sections can take place in an optimal way.
A connecting element can also be prefabricated, and can be made up of at lest one rigid and at least one elastic section. Preferably the respective connecting device then includes at the rigid section a coaxial bore whose inner walling is provided with projections, in which bore the elastic element is insertable in the production process through casting or injection molding, whereby a form-fitting connection is obtained. The projections here can have different designs.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention consists in that the head parts of the screws are separate from the screws, and have a receiving region for receiving a screw, which screw with the head part of the screw is attachable via a clamping screw, with which clamping screw the rigid section is able to be fixed in the head part of the screw. In this way the screws can first be inserted in the vertebral bodies, and the head part, in which the sections are able to be held, can be subsequently aligned with respect to the screw and the connecting element.
Preferably the receiving region of the head part of the screw has the shape of a spherical recess for receiving a screw, and the upper portion of the screw is designed as a spherical head. In this way the head part allows itself to be optimally aligned in relation to the screw and to be adapted to the sections to be received therein.
Embodiments of the invention will be explained more closely in the following, by way of example, with reference to the attached drawing.
a shows in a three-dimensional representation a connecting device which is installed on the head part for a screw;
b is a sectional representation of the connecting device according to
As can be seen from
The second head parts 7 of the second screws 8 are likewise designed bow-shaped, so that a rigid section 6 can also be inserted in these second head parts 7 of the second screw 8. This rigid section 6 will be held in a known way via clamping screws 19 in the second head parts 7 of the second screws 8.
Attached to the rigid section 6 is the connecting device 5, with which the rigid section 6 and the elastic section 4 are able to be connected together.
This rigid section 6 and the elastic section 4 could also be joined together to form a pre-assembled connecting element 9 and in this pre-assembled state be inserted and fixed in the head parts 3 and 7 of the screws 1 and 8 already screwed into the vertebral bodies.
Shown in
The U-shaped bow 20 can be locked by means of a locking piece 26. The U-shaped bow 20 is designed the same way here as the U-shaped bow 10 of the first screw 1, as can be seen in
The rigid section 6 and the U-shaped bow 20 attached thereto are made of a metal alloy, in particular a titanium alloy. The elastic section is made up of a biocompatible synthetic material based on polyurethane, whereby it has the desired flexibility. The locking piece 26 is also made of the same material, whereby, for engagement in the U-shaped bow 20, the regions bearing the engagement 30 are elastically deformable, and the engagement means 30 are able to engage in the corresponding recesses 31 of the U-shaped bow 20.
a and 5b show a connecting device 5, which is attached on the second head part 7 of a second screw 8. Here, too, the connecting device 5 is configured in a way identical to that described with reference to
It would also be conceivable to use such second head parts 7, provided with connecting devices 5, as are shown and correspondingly described in
The connecting element seen and shown from the bottom up in
The two
Parts of a connecting element or a whole connecting element can also be pre-assembled, consisting of rigid sections and elastic sections, which are then insertable in the bone screws screwed into the vertebral bodies. The rigid sections and the elastic sections are hereby firmly connected together, as will still be described in the following. Correspondingly designed portions of a connecting element can be connected to each other or to elastic and rigid single sections, it being possible for connecting devices once again to be provided for this purpose, as they have been described in the preceding.
The rigid sections 6 shown in
With this vertebral column implant according to the invention, practically any desired possibilities of combination result, so that a connecting element can be constructed which can be inserted in the corresponding bone screws and which makes possible the desired stabilization in the individual regions of the vertebral column.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5536268 | Griss | Jul 1996 | A |
7125410 | Freudiger | Oct 2006 | B2 |
20030220642 | Freudiger | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20050096659 | Freudiger | May 2005 | A1 |
20050203517 | Jahng et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050277932 | Farris | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060041259 | Paul et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060142758 | Petit | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20070005063 | Bruneau et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20080215095 | Biedermann et al. | Sep 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2004105577 | Dec 2004 | WO |
2005039454 | May 2005 | WO |
2006066685 | Jun 2006 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20080058812 A1 | Mar 2008 | US |