Patent ID: 7927339

Claim:
A system comprising an elongated shaft sized and configured to establish an access path to bone having an interior volume occupied, at least in part, by cancellous bone, the elongated shaft including a closed distal end portion terminating in a distal tip, and a side opening spaced from the closed distal end portion and the distal tip, the elongated shaft further including a bone engaging structure, located distally of the side opening, the bone engaging structure comprising threads extending between the distal tip and the side opening to anchor the distal end of the elongated shaft in the interior volume of the bone, a first tool sized and configured to be selectively inserted into the shaft and selectively removed from the shaft, the first tool including a region that is capable of being selectively aligned with and advanced through the side opening to project outside the side opening and contact cancellous bone, when the first tool is selectively inserted into the shaft, and a second tool sized and configured, upon removal of the first tool from the shaft, to introduce into the shaft a bone filling material for discharge through the side opening into the cancellous bone.