Described herein are applicators for delivery of a viscous material to a bone surface and methods of use. The applicator includes an elongate handle portion and a tip coupled to a distal location of the handle portion and formed of an elastomeric material configured to conform to the bone surface. The tip includes a bend a distance away from the distal location, a contact surface distal to the bend and including one or more surface features configured to adhere to the viscous material, and a front end having a conic curvature. The bend is between about 20 degrees to about 40 degrees from a longitudinal axis of the tip.

A device for performing a surgical procedure comprises an elongated shaft extending between a proximal end and a distal end and defines an outer surface and an inner surface. An expandable member is disposed at the distal end and is configured to receive inflation material. At least one electrode is disposed with the inflatable member. A cooling mechanism is configured to cool surrounding tissue that the device comes in contact.

A system for establishing an anchorage or augmentation in hard tissue with the aid of a material having thermoplastic properties, which is brought to the site of the anchorage or reinforcement in a solid state, is liquefied in situ, and, in a liquefied state, is displaced to contact the object. The system includes a housing with a proximal housing part and mounted therein, a transmitting piece possibly coupled to an energy source and a driver spring, a distal housing part releasably coupled to the proximal housing part, a permeable sleeve couplable to the distal housing part, and a thermoplastic element positionable in the permeable sleeve. The two housing parts, the transmitting piece, the driver spring and the permeable sleeve form a closed load frame in which the thermoplastic element is compressed between the transmitting piece and the permeable sleeve.

A device for producing a bone cement, comprising an ampule breaker having a first housing, wherein the first housing comprises a first interior, a holder arranged in the first housing for receiving a glass ampule, a breaking element arranged in the first housing, which is designed and configured to break open a glass ampule which can be received in the holder, a collection region arranged in the first housing, which is designed and configured to receive a liquid from a broken-open glass ampule, a cartridge which is configured to receive a powder component of a bone cement, wherein the cartridge comprises a second housing having a second interior, and a fluid-conducting channel for dispensing a liquid from the collection region into the second interior, wherein the fluid-conducting channel is arranged and configured to retain the liquid in the collection region and to dispense the liquid to the second interior.

Systems for the minimally invasive repair, stabilization and/or fixation of a fractured bone, such as a rib, are disclosed. The systems include one or more rods/support members that are designed to extend along a dimension of a bone being repaired and secure the fractured bone. The support members can be photodynamic and are formed using an expandable member that is filled with a light-sensitive liquid that is cured to form the rigid support member. Two or more clamps are used to secure the support member(s) to the rib or other bone. Minimally invasive surgical methods for securing the systems to a fractured bone are also disclosed.

The invention comprises a system for aiding in the in-situ determination of the state of cure (or progress of cure) in bone cement which is a composition that cures in an exothermic reaction and having a device which comprises a frequency sensor joined to a circuit and to an indicator that emits a signal in response to a current emitted to the circuit by the sensor to monitor a state of cure. The invention also relates to surgical methods using the system.

Systems and methods for treating conditions and diseases of the spine are disclosed herein. A device includes a balloon catheter comprising at least one inner lumen incorporated within an elongated shaft; a distal end having an inner balloon positioned inside and completely surrounded by an outer balloon; and a proximal end having an adapter for passage of at least one of an inflation fluid or a medical instrument; and an optical fiber comprising an outer diameter sized to pass through the inner lumen of the elongated shaft; a nonlinear light-emitting portion of a given length, wherein a portion of a cladding material from the nonlinear light-emitting portion has been removed so that light energy may be emitted along the length of the nonlinear light-emitting portion; and a linear elongated portion for guiding light towards the nonlinear light-emitting portion.

A system for augmenting a bone structure. A shape memory device includes a deflectable distal segment including temperature-dependent memory metal material. The shape memory device is slidably received within a guide cannula. The deflectable distal segment may include a substantially longitudinally straightened form, such as when subjected to a force from the guide cannula. The deflectable distal segment forms a first deflected shape having a first bend away from said straight longitudinal axis at a first elevated temperature greater than an initial temperature, and forms a second deflected shape having a second bend away from said straight longitudinal axis at a second elevated temperature greater than said first elevated temperature. The shape memory device may create voids within the bone structure with the deflectable distal segment at the first and/or second bends. Methods for positioning a shape memory device within a bone structure are also disclosed.

The present invention relates in certain embodiments to medical devices for treating vertebral compression fractures. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to instruments and methods for controllably restoring vertebral body height by controlling the flow of bone cement into the interior of a vertebra and the application of forces causes by the cement flow. An exemplary system utilizes Rf energy in combination a conductive bone cement for selectively polymerizing the inflow plume to increase the viscosity of the cement. In one aspect of the invention, the system utilizes a controller to control bone cement flow parameters to either allow or disallow cement interdigitation into cancellous bone. A method of the invention includes pulsing the flows of bone cement wherein high acceleration of the flow pulses can apply expansion forces across the surface of the cement plume to reduce a vertebral fracture.

Internal bone fixation devices and methods for using the devices for repairing a weakened or fractured bone are disclosed herein. A device for use in repairing a fractured bone includes a delivery catheter having an elongated shaft with a proximal end, a distal end, and a longitudinal axis therebetween, wherein the delivery catheter has an inner void for passage of at least one reinforcing material and an inner lumen for passage of a light source; a conformable member releasably engaging the distal end of the delivery catheter, wherein the conformable member moves from a deflated state to an inflated state when the at least one reinforcing material is delivered to the conformable member; and an adapter releasably engaging the proximal end of the delivery catheter for receiving the light source and the at least one reinforcing material.