Bone block assemblies and their use in assembled bone-tendon-bone grafts
View Patent ↗The present invention has multiple aspects. In its simplest aspect, the present invention is directed to an intermediate bone block comprising a machined segment of cortical bone, cancellous bone or both, the intermediate having a face comprising one to ten compression surfaces and one to ten cavities, the compression surfaces suitable for compressing soft tissue, the cavities for receiving and holding overflow soft tissue. The cavities are preferably channels, and more preferably channels having an omega cross-sectional profile. The invention is also directed to bone block assemblies suitable for binding to a soft tissue to form an implantable graft, and to such implantable grafts. A particularly preferred graft is a bone-tendon-bone graft.
1. A bone block assembly for securing soft tissue, said bone block assembly comprising two to ten components of cortical bone, cancellous bone, artificial bone or a combination thereof, wherein said soft tissue is sandwiched between at least two of said components, and said components being connected by one to ten biocompatible connectors, at least two of said components having opposing tissue engaging surfaces that contact opposing sides of said soft tissue, at least one of said tissue engaging surfaces comprising a textured face, and at least one other of said tissue engaging surfaces comprising:
a face comprising compression surfaces and one to ten channels, said compression surfaces for compressing said soft tissue against the opposing face, and said one to ten channels for receiving overflow soft tissue from said compression surfaces;
wherein said one to ten channels have an undercut cross-sectional profile and are laid out across said tissue engaging surface in a nested configuration along the direction of pull of said soft tissue.
2. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein said components comprise cortical bone, cancellous bone or both.
3. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , further comprising one to ten machined holes that traverse either the bone block assembly as a whole or a single component thereof.
4. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a depression on at least one of said components that aids in surgical placement.
5. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein said components have an outer surface that is shaped to aid in surgical placement.
6. The bone block assembly of claim 5 , wherein the outer surface has a shape selected from the group consisting of polygonal, cylindrical, threaded, bulleted, chamfered, angled, ridged, capsule shaped, tapered and a combination thereof.
7. The bone block assembly of claim 5 , wherein the outer surface contains spikes or indentations.
8. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said components comprise one to five grooves on an outer surface to accommodate one or more interference screws.
9. The bone block assembly of claim 8 , wherein said grooves comprise threads or tapped threads.
10. The bone block assembly of claim 8 , further comprising two equally placed grooves on an outer surface to accommodate one or more interference screws.
11. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a groove on an outer surface of said bone block assembly to accommodate said soft tissue.
12. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein any of said components comprise an internal leading edge configuration that reduces tissue stresses during assembly and use.
13. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the opposing faces contain a lengthwise tapering profile.
14. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein said undercut cross-sectional profile is an omega cross-sectional profile.
15. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein said channels comprise a cross-sectional profile selected from the group consisting of triangular, dovetail, omega and a combination thereof.
16. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein all of said tissue engaging surfaces are textured.
17. The bone block assembly of claim 16 , wherein said textured face comprises rows of ridges running across the intended direction of pull of the soft tissue.
18. The bone block assembly of claim 17 , wherein at least one of said channels comprises an omega cross sectional profile.
19. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said components is perfused or coated with an osteoinductive substance.
20. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said components has an outer surface that is partially demineralized.
21. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said components is cleaned or perfused by treatment with an alternating pressure cycling process.
22. The bone block assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said components are themselves assembled from smaller portions of cortical bone, cancellous bone, artificial bone or a combination thereof.
23. A bone block assembly for securing soft tissue, said bone block assembly comprising two components of cortical bone, cancellous bone, artificial bone or a combination thereof, wherein said soft tissue is sandwiched between said two components, and said components being connected by one to ten biocompatible connectors, said two components having opposing faces for contacting opposing sides of said soft tissue, wherein one of said two components has a textured face, and the other of said two components has a face comprising one or more compression surfaces and one to ten channels, said compression surfaces for compressing said soft tissue against the opposing face, and said channels for receiving overflow soft tissue from said compression surfaces; wherein said channels comprise an undercut cross-sectional profile and are laid out across the face in a nested configuration along the direction of pull of said soft tissue.
24. The bone block assembly of claim 23 , wherein said undercut cross-sectional profile comprises an omega profile.
25. The bone block assembly of claim 23 , wherein the textured face comprises rows of ridges running across the intended direction of pull of the soft tissue.