DEVICE FOR FACILITATING THE FORMATION OF NEW BONE TISSUE

Abstract

A device for facilitating the formation of new bone tissue includes a body that defines an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion having a substantially frustum-like shape, the upper portion having a substantially cylindrical shape. The lower portion is adapted to be inserted into the medullary canal of a bone.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. A device for facilitating the formation of new bone tissue, the device comprising: a body that defines an upper portion and a lower portion, said lower portion having a substantially frustum shape, said upper portion having a substantially cylindrical shape, said lower portion being adapted to be inserted into a medullary canal of a bone.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein said upper portion is blended with said lower portion with a curved segment.

11. The device according to claim 9, wherein said body is an internally hollow body which has a top opening and a bottom opening.

12. The device according to claim 9, provided by an additive powder technology.

13. The device according to claim 9, wherein the device is coated with hydroxyapatite.

14. The device according to claim 9, wherein said lower portion and said upper portion have a porous outer surface configured to facilitate osseointegration.

15. The device according to claim 9, wherein the device is configured to be used in any anatomical region of the human body.

16. The device according to claim 9, wherein said lower portion has a smaller diameter than said upper portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Further characteristics and advantages of the disclosure will become better apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the device according to the present disclosure, which is illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view from above of the device according to the disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a perspective view from below of the device according to the disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 is a side view of the device according to the disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 4 is a plan view from below of the device according to the disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 is a plan view from above of the device according to the disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the device according to the disclosure taken along the line VI-VI; and

[0020] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the device according to the disclosure taken along the line VII-VII.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] With reference to the figures, the device according to the present disclosure, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises an upper portion 2 and a lower portion 3. The distinction between the lower part 3 and the upper part 2 is to indicate the part (lower) that is adapted to be inserted into the medullary canal of a bone, thus distinguishing it from the upper portion 2 which is adapted to protrude from the medullary canal.

[0022] Advantageously, the device according to the disclosure is configured as an internally hollow body, with a top opening 4 and a bottom opening 5.

[0023] Conveniently, the lower portion 3 of the device according to the disclosure is frustum-shaped, in order to allow the insertion into the medullary canal. By contrast, the upper portion 2 is made in a substantially cylindrical or conical shape.

[0024] This facilitates not only the formation of periosteal callus (at the upper part) but also of endosteal callus (at the frustum-shaped lower part), thus overcoming the limitations of the known art.

[0025] Conveniently the upper portion 2 is blended with the lower region 3 with a curved segment 6.

[0026] Advantageously the upper portion 2, hollow, is internally contoured in steps toward the axis of the body, so as to define, downward from above, i.e. from the upper portion 2 toward the lower portion 3, a first step 8 which connects a first upper portion 9 to a second upper portion 10, by way of a curved portion, and a second step 11 which connects the second upper portion 10 to the inner surface 12 of the lower portion 3.

[0027] The inner surface 12 of the lower portion 3 is cylindrical.

[0028] The top opening 4 is conveniently shaped with two straight and parallel sections which are connected by two curved sections 15 and 16.

[0029] The device according to the disclosure is provided by means of additive technology starting from titanium alloy powder, or chrome-cobalt molybdenum alloy powder, materials that are particularly suitable to facilitate bone regrowth.

[0030] By way of such technique and such materials it is possible to obtain a porous outer surface that is capable of facilitating the formation of new bone tissue.

[0031] The device according to the disclosure is adapted to be positioned at the apex of a stump of available bone, and takes advantage of the two types of fibrocartilage callus, i.e:

[0032] external (periosteal) fibrocartilage callus developing between the outer bone and the upper portion 2 (cylindrical or conical in shape) of the device according to the disclosure;

[0033] internal (endosteal) fibrocartilage callus developing between the lower portion 3 (frustum in shape) of the device according to the disclosure, which is inserted into the medullary canal of the bone, and the endosteal bone of the diaphyseal cavity.

[0034] In this manner, a kind of connecting portion between the external fibrocartilage callus and the internal fibrocartilage callus is achieved by way of the device according to the disclosure.

[0035] The device enables a high level of osseointegration, and makes it possible to intervene in those patients whose quantity of bone is very low as a consequence of major removals of bone or as a consequence of multiple overhaul interventions.

[0036] The device, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

[0037] Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

[0038] In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and to the state of the art.

[0039] The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102018000007049 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.