Patent ID: 7896918

Claim:
A space holder for vertebrae or intervertebral discs for implantation into living human or animal organisms, the space holder comprising: a cylinder-like body having a first end and a second end, the body defining a longitudinal axis extending from the first end to the second end and having an outwardly facing cylinder-like surface extending in a direction of the longitudinal axis at each of the first and second ends of the cylinder-like body; first and second connecting members to connect to adjacent body parts provided at the first and second ends, respectively, of the cylinder-like body, each of the first and second connecting members having a ring-like shape and having an inwardly facing ring-like surface extending primarily in a direction of the longitudinal axis that is connected to and contacts the outwardly facing cylinder-like surface at the first and second ends of the cylinder-like body, respectively; wherein each of the first and second connecting members has a central opening therethrough having an outer diameter defined by the inwardly facing ring-like surface such that at least a portion of the first end and at least a portion of the second end of the cylinder-like body is exposed through the central opening of the first and second connecting member, respectively; wherein the cylinder-like body is formed as a solid body from at least one material that is elastically deformable under the intended conditions of use; wherein the space holder is compressible and extensible in an axial direction and is bendable about a radial axis of rotation; and wherein the first and second connecting members have at least one cavity comprising a recess extending only as far as the cylinder-like body between the ends of the cylinder-like body and a fully-open aperture outside the ends of the cylinder-like body.