Methods for treating the spine
Described are methods for therapeutically treating the spine that involve the implantation of a medical device, such as a fusion cage, disc nucleus implant, or artificial disc, that transmits loads to a volume of bone tissue of the spine, and the reinforcement of that volume of bone tissue to decrease the risk of fracture or other injury resultant of the transmitted loads.
1. A method for therapeutically treating the spine of a patient, the method comprising:
implanting a medical device in the spine that imparts loads to a volume of bone tissue of a healthy vertebra of the spine, wherein the healthy vertebra is adjacent to an unfractured vertebra having internal bone tissue of decreased density creating a risk of fracture; and
inserting a cannulated delivery device into said volume of bone tissue of the healthy vertebra and the internal bone tissue of decreased density;
delivering a bone-strengthening substance through said cannulated delivery device and into said volume of bone tissue of the healthy vertebra, and into the internal bone tissue of decreased density; and withdrawing said cannulated delivery device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said bone-strengthening substance comprises an osteogenic protein.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said bone-strengthening substance comprises a bone cement.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said bone-strengthening substance has a flowable condition during delivery, and a hardened condition after delivery.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein said osteogenic protein comprises a bone morphogenic protein.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the bone morphogenic protein comprises BMP-2 or BMP-7.