Systems and methods using expandable bodies to push apart cortical bone surfaces
View Patent ↗Systems and methods insert an expandable body in a collapsed configuration into a space defined between cortical bone surfaces. The space can, e.g., comprise a fracture or an intervertebral space. The systems and methods cause expansion of the expandable body within the space, thereby pushing apart the cortical bone surfaces to, e.g., reduce the fracture or push apart adjacent vertebral bodies as part of a therapeutic procedure.
1. A method comprising
selecting for treatment a bone that includes a fractured exterior cortical bone region defined between facing exterior cortical bone surfaces that have collapsed upon themselves to displace away from a desired anatomic orientation an unfractured exterior cortical bone region remote from the fractured exterior cortical bone region,
deploying an expandable body having a collapsed condition sized and configured for insertion between the facing exterior cortical bone surfaces of the fractured exterior cortical bone region, and
enlarging the expandable body into an enlarged condition between the facing exterior cortical bone surfaces of the fractured exterior cortical bone region to lift the collapsed exterior facing cortical bone surfaces in the fractured exterior cortical bone region apart to move the unfractured exterior cortical bone region toward the desired anatomic orientation.
2. A method according to claim 1
wherein the expandable body is deployed on a distal end of an elongated body.
3. A method according to claim 1
wherein the expandable body is deployed in a collapsed condition through a percutaneous access path for insertion between the facing exterior cortical bone surfaces of the fractured exterior cortical bone region.
4. A method according to claim 1
wherein the expandable body is enlarged by fluid pressure.
5. A method according to claim 1
wherein the expandable body is enlarged by inflation.