Abstract:
A balloon for use in compressing cancellous bone and marrow (also known as medullary bone or trabecular bone). The balloon comprises an inflatable balloon body for insertion into said bone. The body has a shape and size to compress at least a portion of the cancellous bone to form a cavity in the cancellous bone and/or to restore the original position of the outer cortical bone, if fractured or collapsed. The balloon desirably incorporates restraints which inhibit the balloon from applying excessive pressure to various regions of the cortical bone. The wall or walls of the balloon are such that proper inflation of the balloon body is achieved to provide for optimum compression of the bone marrow. The balloon can be inserted quickly into a bone. The balloon can be made to have a suction catheter. The balloon can be used to form and/or enlarge a cavity or passage in a bone, especially in, but not limited to, vertebral bodies. Various additional embodiments facilitate directionally biasing the inflation of the balloon.
Abstract:
An expandable structure made from an elastomer material is preformed to a desired geometry by exposure to heat and pressure. The structure undergoes controlled expansion and further distention in cancellous bone, with controlled deformation and without stress failure.
Abstract:
Systems and methods treat fractured or diseased bone by deploying more than a single therapeutic tool into the bone. In one arrangement, the systems and methods deploy an expandable body in association with a bone cement nozzle into the bone, such that both occupy the bone interior at the same time. In another arrangement, the systems and methods deploy multiple expandable bodies, which occupy the bone interior volume simultaneously. Expansion of the bodies form cavity or cavities in cancellous bone in the interior bone volume.
Abstract:
A method of producing a purified lipid-binding peptide which can bind to phospholipids at one or more amphipatic alpha-helical peptide regions. The method includes providing a gene coding for the peptide, and introducing the gene in expressible, heterologous form in a suitable expression system capable of synthesizing a mixture of peptides which includes the lipid-binding peptide. Addition of either endogenous or exogenous lipids to the peptide mixture forms a low-density lipopeptide complex composed of lipid and the lipid-binding peptide, and this complex can be separated easily from nonlipid-binding peptides in the peptide on the basis of its size and/or density. The method is intended particularly for scaled-up production of purified human apolipoproteins and their alpha-helical lipid-binding regions. Also disclosed are related methods for producing recombinant apolipoproteins, therapeutic lipopeptide compositions, and a stabilized lipid emulsion for nutritional therapy. Further disclosed are methods for expressing apolipoproteins or lipid-binding segments thereof in bacterial, yeast and mammalian cell expression systems, and methods for purifying lipid binding proteins, including fused recombinant proteins.
Abstract:
Introduction of a bone filler material into at least a portion of the cancellous bone volume pressurizes the bone filler material and compresses the cancellous bone volume within the bone structure.
Abstract:
Systems and methods treat fractured or diseased bone by deploying more than a single therapeutic tool into the bone. In one arrangement, the systems and methods deploy an expandable body in association with a bone cement nozzle into the bone, such that both occupy the bone interior at the same time. In another arrangement, the systems and methods deploy multiple expandable bodies, which occupy the bone interior volume simultaneously. Expansion of the bodies form cavity or cavities in cancellous bone in the interior bone volume.
Abstract:
An expandable structure carried at the end of a catheter tube assembly can be contracted and/or wrapped to present a reduced profile during deployment and/or removal from a targeted tissue site.
Abstract:
A method provides a void creation device including an expandable structure adapted to undergo expansion in the cancellous bone volume of a bone selected for treatment. The expandable structure has at least one dimension so that the expandable structure will assume a predetermined shape and size when substantially expanded that compacts only a first volume of the cancellous bone volume to form a void, leaving a second volume of the cancellous bone volume substantially uncompacted by the expandable structure. A filling material is placed within the void through the percutaneous access path.
Abstract:
A tool served to convey a bone filling material into a cancellous bone volume. The tool carries an expandable structure, which is sized and configured for expansion within the cancellous bone volume to condition the cancellous bone volume for receiving the bone filling material.
Abstract:
A first tool establishes a percutaneous path into the vertebral body having an interior volume occupied, at least in part, by cancellous bone. The vertebral body has at least one cortical plate that is depressed due to fracture. A source of bone filling material has a viscosity that resists extravazation into cancellous bone, and a second tool conveys the bone filling material through the percutaneous path to move the fractured cortical plate toward a desired anatomic position. A third tool can be provided that is sized and configured for introduction through the percutaneous path and including an operative element that conditions cancellous bone for the introduction of the bone filling material.