Patent ID: 7959634

Claim:
A device for piercing a cortical wall and initiating access to a cancellous interior of a vertebral body via minimally invasive, percutaneous approach to the vertebral body, said device comprising: a hollow shaft comprising an elongate axis, said shaft having a proximal end and a distal end with a first series of notches or slots in a side of said shaft near said distal end, wherein said shaft has sufficient strength and rigidity, when restrained by a rigid element inserted within the hollow shaft, to remain essentially straight and to pierce the cortical wall of said vertebral body, and wherein said shaft comprises a preformed curvature near the distal end of the shaft such that a portion of said elongate axis at said distal end of said shaft is not co-axial with a portion of said elongate axis along a remainder of said shaft, when said shaft is unrestrained by said rigid element.