ANTERIOR IMPLANT FOR THE SPINE
Implant for the cervical spine comprising an anterior plate (1) for maintaining a bone graft, bone anchorage screws (6,7,8) for the plate and means (22) for blocking the screws and preventing any migration of the screws, characterized in that the blocking means comprises at least one slide (22) slidably mounted on the plate so as to be applicable on at least one anchorage screw head (15, 16). The slide cooperates with means (33, 34) for retaining the slide on the head of the screw. The slide may be formed by a thin platelet (22a) which is provided with lateral flanges (25) and is slidable in a complementary cavity (18) provided in the plate (1) while being flush with the surface of the plate (1). The plate (1) includes ramps (26) for retaining the slide (22) on which the flanges (25) are slidable, the slide (22) being slidable to a position in which it at least partly overlaps the heads of the associated screws (6 or 7) and is locked in position by suitable means.
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The present invention relates to an implant for the spine, and more particularly, but not exclusively relates to an anterior plate for maintaining a bone graft, bone anchorage screws for the plate and means for blocking the screws and preventing any migration of the latter.
BACKGROUNDSpinal plates may be introduced from the anterior to stabilize the cervical spine and maintain in position or secure a bone graft which fills the spaces left by the extraction of at least one vertebral disc and, possibly, part of a contiguous cervical vertebra.
The bone anchorage screws used for fixing this type of plate in position are either unicortical, and therefore short, since they pass through only the anterior cortical of the vertebra, or bicortical, and therefore long, since they extend through the anterior cortical and the posterior cortical. The short unicortical screws utilize a locking element when there is a possibility the screws may back-out. On the other hand, the long biconical screws, while less likely to unscrew, have other limitations making them less desirable in certain situations.
In practice, the locking element employed up to the present time for unicortical screws is an additional screw which is positioned between two bone anchorage screws and whose head overlaps the heads of these two screws. While there are thin cervical plates without a locking element, the addition of an existing locking element to a given plate design typically results in an increase in plate size, such as the plate's thickness. These additions may also result in a greater plate width than is desirable. Thus, the general desire to further decrease the size of surgical implants indicates a need for new plate and/or locking element arrangements.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONAccordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a unique device for stabilizing a patient's spine.
Additionally or alternatively, another object of the invention is to provide an anterior cervical plate provided with antimigration means for the screws arranged in such manner as to avoid increasing the overall size of the plate.
One form of the present invention is a unique device for stabilizing a patient's spine. In a further form, a slide is incorporated into a spinal plate that may be operable to serve as a locking element.
According to another form of the invention, a plate has means for blocking the bone anchorage screws that comprises at least one slide slidably mounted on the plate so as to be capable of partially covering at least one anchorage screw head, and the slide cooperates with means for retaining it on the head of the screw.
In still another form, the slide is formed by a thin platelet provided with at least one flange and slidable in a complementary cavity provided on the surface of the plate, the cavity having a ramp on which the flange can be engaged; the retaining means are formed by a boss on the plate which clicks into an associated recess when the slide is in its position for blocking and locking the screw. The cavity and the platelet may be so dimensioned that the surface of the platelet is flush with that of the plate when it is placed in its cavity. Consequently, for this form, the overall thickness of the anterior plate may not be increased by the slide.
Further forms, embodiments, objects, aspects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended Any alterations and further modifications in the illustrated or described embodiments, and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described or illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
Shown in
Referring additionally to
Each pair of openings 11 and 12 opens onto a respective cavity 18 provided in the adjacent surface 1a of the plate 1. Formed in this cavity 18, which in the presently described embodiment opens onto the opposite faces of the plate 1, is a bridge 19 which defines at one end a part of the circumference of the openings 11, 12 and extends from the latter to the opposite wall 21 of the cavity 18. However, the thickness of each bridge 19 is less than that of the plate I so that the surface 19a of each bridge 19 is situated within the cavity 18 at a distance d from the surface 1a of the plate 1 (
Each pair of bone anchorage screws 6, and each pair of screws 7, is associated with a slide 22 for locking screws 6, 7 after anchorage in the vertebral bodies C4, C5, respectively; and thereby preventing migration of the screws 6, 7. Referring further to
Further, each platelet 22a is provided with two lateral flanges 25 which project from the sides 23 under the central part of the platelet 22a. Each of the flanges 25 is adapted to form a shoe 25a slidable along a respective retaining ramp 26 (
The two large sides 28, 29 of each platelet 22a are concave and the apices 31,32 of each platelet 22a are rounded so that the rounded apices 31, 32 of the sides 28 close to the screws 6 or 7 are able to partly overlap the heads 15, 16 of the screws 6,7 when the platelets 22a are in position for locking the screws 6, 7 (
Referring more specifically to
Referring next to
To place the plate 1 and its locking slides 22 in position on the cervical segment such as C4, C5 of
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It should be appreciated that the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the described embodiments and may encompass variants. For example, boss 33 can be formed on support 19 whilst recess 34 is formed on the platelet 22a. Thus the means 33, 34 for blocking the slides 22 in their locking position may be replaced by any other like system. Further, in another arrangement, a slide is associated with each screw and has a single flange that is suitably dimensioned for this purpose. Optionally, the plate may be provided with only a single blocking slide 22, the second pair of screws being for example associated with other blocking means, or being absent. Moreover, in further embodiments, the implant according to the invention can be used, not only for the cervical spine, but also for other spine segments, for example thoracic and lumbar, and possibly without any bone grafts. Further, in other embodiments, the screw-locking slide and plate arrangement may be used to reduce undesired migration of one or more screws of a type other than the unicortical variety; and may be used to check undesired migration of other types of fasteners use in addition to or as an alternative to one or more screws.
In one alternative embodiment of the present invention, an implant for the spine includes an anterior plate for stabilizing the spine and maintaining a bone graft that has a number of openings, a number of bone anchorage screws for correspondingly engaging the openings of the plate, and means for blocking the screws and preventing any migration of the screws. This implant is further characterized in that the blocking means comprises at least one slide slidably mounted on the plate so as to be capable of partially covering at least one anchorage screw head. This slide cooperates with means for retaining the slide on the head of the screw.
In further embodiment, an implant for the spine includes: a plate for stabilizing the spine that has a number of openings; a number of bone anchorage screws each operable to engage a corresponding one of the openings of the plate; and means for blocking the 20 screws and preventing screw migration. The blocking means includes at least one slide slidably mounted on the plate to selectively cover at least a part of at least one of the screws and means for retaining the slide on at least one of the screws.
In an additional embodiment, an implant for the spine includes: a plate for stabilizing the spine that comprises a number of openings and defines a cavity adjacent at least one of the openings; a number of bone anchorage screws each operable to pass through a corresponding one of the openings of the plate to engage the spine; and a slide slidably mounted in the cavity of the plate. The slide is operable to selectively cover at least a portion of at least one of the screws mounted in at least one of the openings.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and 30 foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.
Claims
1. An implant for the spine comprising: an anterior plate for stabilizing the spine and maintaining a bone graft, the plate having a number of openings, a number of bone anchorage screws for correspondingly engaging the openings of the plate, and means for blocking the screws and preventing any migration of the screws, characterized in that the blocking means comprise at least one slide slidably mounted on the plate so as to be capable of partially covering to at least on anchorage screw head, and the slide cooperates with means for retaining the slide on the bead of the screw.
2. An implant for the spine characterized in that it comprises:
- a plate for stabilizing the spine, the plate having a number of openings;
- a number of bone anchorage screws each operable to engage a corresponding one of the openings of the plate; and
- means for blocking the screws and preventing screw migration, the blocking means including at least one slide slidably mounted on the plate to selectively cover at least a part of at least one of the screws and means for retaining the slide on the at least one of the screws, the slide cooperating with the retaining means.
3. An implant for the spine characterized in that it comprises: a slide slidably mounted in the cavity of the plate, the slide being operable to selectively cover at least a portion of at least one of the screws mounted in the at least one of the openings.
- a plate for stabilizing the spine, the plate including a number of openings and defining a cavity adjacent at least one of the openings;
- a number of bone anchorage screws each operable to pass through a corresponding one of the openings of the plate to engage the spine; and
4. The implant according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the retaining means comprises a boss on the slide which is clicked into a corresponding recess defined by a bridge of the plate when the slide is in a position for blocking the screws.
5. The implant according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the plate defines a cavity and the slide is mounted within the cavity.
6. The implant according to claim 3, wherein the plate includes a bridge adjacent the slide, and one of the bridge and the slide includes a boss and another of the bridge and the slide includes a recess to correspondingly receive the boss to retain the slide in a screw retaining position.
7. The implant according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the slide is formed by a platelet including at least one flange, the cavity includes at least one ramp to engage the at least one flange and retain the platelet on the plate.
8. The implant according to claim 7, characterized in that the platelet is provided with 15 two lateral flanges each adapted to slide along a corresponding one of two ramps, the ramps retaining the platelet in the cavity and being formed on opposite sides of the cavity, the platelet being cambered to allow the platelet to be resiliency inserted in the cavity, and the platelet is dimensioned for at least partially overlapping a pair of screw heads each belonging to a corresponding one of the bone anchorage screws.
9. The implant according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the cavity and the platelet are so dimensioned that the surface of the platelet is generally flush with a surface of the plate when the platelet is placed in the cavity.
10. The implant according to any of claims 7-9, characterized in that plate defines another cavity arranged to receive another slide slidably mounted to the plate.
11. The implant according to any of claims 7-10, characterized in that the cavity communicates with a pair of the openings of the plate.
12. The implant according to any of claims 10-11, wherein a central part of the plate defines a central opening and further comprising a selected bone anchorage screw to pass through the central opening, the selected bone anchorage screw including a first thread and a screw head, the first thread being separated from the screw head by a generally smooth part, the first thread having a diameter larger than the width of the screw pass; opening for preventing the return of the selected bone anchorage screw after the bone anchorage screw is inserted in through the central opening.
Type: Application
Filed: May 9, 2011
Publication Date: Nov 3, 2011
Applicant: WARSAW ORTHOPEDIC, INC. (Warsaw, IN)
Inventors: Richard ASSAKER (Kain), Richard-Laurent Minfelde (Paris), Jean-Francois D'Amore (Montevrain)
Application Number: 13/103,588
International Classification: A61B 17/70 (20060101);