Patent ID: 8092464

Claim:
A syringe device for delivering an osteogenic material to an interbody space between first and second adjacent vertebra of a patient, the device comprising: (a) an elongate syringe barrel having a rigid portion and an internal lumen communicating with an open distal end, said open distal end receivable within an interbody space between first and second adjacent vertebra of a patient, the open distal end having a deflectable region, the deflectable region being flexible and having a marker, wherein in a direction extending toward said open distal end there is a tapered region of increasing diameter that begins at or just after a curved portion; (b) a porous osteogenic material received in the lumen of said elongate syringe barrel and having a trailing end; said porous osteogenic material incorporating a liquid pharmaceutical composition comprising an osteogenic protein, said liquid pharmaceutical composition captured within pores of a porous carrier material; said porous carrier material further being compressible, wherein compression of the carrier material expels amounts of said liquid pharmaceutical composition out of said pores such that the liquid pharmaceutical composition escapes the porous carrier material; (c) a plunger configured to move in the lumen and apply force to the trailing end of the porous osteogenic material to advance the material through the lumen of the syringe barrel, the plunger being rigid and less flexible than the deflectable region and having a bend portion to deflect the deflectable region of the syringe barrel and an imagable marker that marks the bend portion; and wherein said syringe barrel, plunger and porous osteogenic material are configured wherein the porous osteogenic material is advanceable through the internal lumen with said plunger without substantial compression of the porous osteogenic material which thereby retains the liquid pharmaceutical composition.