Patent ID: 7749268

Claim:
A method for implanting a medical device in the spine of a patient, comprising: accessing the spine of a patient having a healthy vertebra and an unfractured vertebra with internal bone tissue of decreased density creating a risk of fracture; implanting a medical device in the spine of the patient in the healthy vertebra and adjacent to the unfractured vertebra, wherein the medical device causes loads to be imparted to the internal bone tissue of the vertebra and to the healthy vertebra of the patient and the medical device is a fusion device; and delivering into an internal volume of the internal bone tissue of the vertebra and into the healthy vertebra an osteogenic substance effective to strengthen the internal volume of the bone tissue to reduce the risk of fracture and to strengthen the healthy vertebra via a delivery device inserted into said internal volume of the bone tissue and into the healthy vertebra, wherein the osteogenic substance has a flowable condition during delivery, and a hardened condition after delivery, and the osteogenic substance is a bone morphogenic protein.