U.S. Patent Awarded for Flexible Spinal Fusion Device

(NIH)

FBC Device ApS, a medical device company in Aarhus, Denmark, has received a U.S. patent for its two-piece disc implants that help spinal surgery patients achieve a more natural alignment. Patent 8,007,536 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was officially awarded on 30 August.

The invention covers the company’s technology for total disc replacement, implanted during surgery, consisting of two inter-vertebral elements that are joined with a flexible connector. After surgery, bone grows back around the implant that gradually reduces the relative moveability of the elements to each other, until they become fixed.

The fixation of the elements occurs in a position determined in large part by by the patient’s movements, thus is more acceptable to the patient. Finn Bjarke Christensen, inventor of the device and FBC Device CEO says the need for the device arose when he saw how the spinal alignment devised during surgery was not the same as in real life.

“Unfortunately, alignment of the bones in the operative theater is not the same alignment obtained when the patient is up and walking,” says Christensen. “[W]e invented a two piece inter-body fusion device that allows for temporary relative movement between the two components so that the patient’s body by itself can determine the appropriate position for fusion.”

Read more: Medical Device Maker Licenses Spinal Surgery Technology

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