Patent ID: 7666227

Claim:
An intravertebral implant limiting the movement of flowable material introduced into a human vertebral body having an interior region defined by a superior endplate, an inferior endplate and a cortical rim, and containing cancellous bone therewithin, the implant comprising: at least one elongated guide member having a proximal end portion and a distal end portion, said distal end portion changeable in configuration between a pre-deployed configuration and a deployed configuration, in the pre-deployed configuration said distal end portion being sized for insertion into the vertebral body, and in the deployed configuration said distal end portion defining a selected shape sufficiently small to reside within the interior region of the vertebral body; an elongated intravertebral implant having opposed proximal and distal ends and a plurality of slots spaced apart along the intravertebral implant, the intravertebral implant slidably mounted on the guide member for longitudinally advancing the intravertebral implant distally along the guide member for insertion into the vertebral body, said intravertebral implant substantially conforming to the selected shape defined by the distal end portion of the guide member to form a vertically extending structure that has a transverse dimension which is sufficiently small to reside within the interior region of the vertebral body, the structure defining an internal resident volume for containing cancellous bone; the structure including a passageway adapted to receive flowable material, the passageway being in communication with the slots, wherein flowable material may flow from the passageway through the slots and into the resident volume; and the structure defining a barrier that limits the movement of flowable material out of the resident volume.