Patent ID: 7537617

Claim:
A load bearing spinal implant for use in fusing adjacent vertebrae, the implant effective to bear loads occurring between the adjacent vertebrae and comprising a plurality of elongate sticks of bone cut from a source bone to have a longitudinal length, a height, and a width, wherein said elongate sticks of bone are woven together to form at least one load bearing layer, wherein said load bearing layer includes a first group of said sticks of bone oriented in a first direction and a second group of said sticks of bone oriented in a second direction angled relative to the first direction, the second group of sticks comprising fully mineralized bone having no demineralized bone segments; and wherein said spinal implant has a compressive strength greater than 70 Newtons and is sized to span between and contact the adjacent vertebrae; and wherein the sticks of said first group are segmentally demineralized to include a plurality of mineralized segments separated by relatively more flexible demineralized segments, wherein said demineralized segments overlie portions of the sticks of said second group and functions as flexible hinges that facilitate bending of the sticks of said first group around the sticks of said second group, and wherein the individual elongate sticks of bone comprise an elongate cortical bone layer and a cancellous bone layer adjacent to the cortical bone layer, each layer running along substantially the entire length of the stick.