Patent ID: 9216023
Filing Date: 2015-12-22
Classification: A61B,A61F

Abstract:
1. An expandable implant configured to restore height to a fractured target bone, the expandable implant comprising: a body being elongate along a central axis in an axial direction, the body having a plurality of linkages connected so as to define at least one annular row of linkages arranged in a plurality of columns, each annular row extending along a row direction that extends about the central axis, each of the linkages defining a first side, a second side spaced from the first side along the row direction, a first end, and a second end spaced from the first end along the axial direction, and an entirety of the first and second ends are curved as they extend from the first side to the second side, and the first and second sides a) extend from the first end to the second end, and b) are orientated substantially parallel to the axial direction when the body is in an insertion configuration, the first and second sides further defining a distance therebetween, such that the distance increases from a first distance to a second distance that is greater than the first distance when the linkages are subjected to an expansion force that causes the body to expand from the insertion configuration to an expanded configuration, wherein the plurality of linkages includes at least a first linkage that is disposed in a first one of the columns, and at least a second linkage that is disposed in a second one of the columns, each of the first and second columns having a thickness of a single linkage along the row direction, the first linkage is sized different than the second linkage of the plurality of linkages such that the expansion force causes the first linkage to expand to a greater extent than the second linkage, and the first and second columns define the same number of linkages, such that application of the expansion force causes asymmetric expansion of the body from the insertion configuration into the expanded configuration where the body is bent such that the central axis is curved more than when the body is in the insertion configuration.