Patent ID: 7678116

Claim:
A method of treating bone, comprising: introducing an initial volume of curable bone fill material into bone through an outlet port of an introducer positioned within the bone; controllably applying energy to the bone fill material from an energy source while introducing the initial volume of curable bone fill material into the bone, along a flow path the applied energy selectively increasing the viscosity of the curable bone fill material and causing the bone fill material having increased viscosity to permeate and interdigitate with cancellous bone in the flow path, the initial volume of curable bone fill material forming a periphery surrounding the outlet port that expands with continued inflow of bone fill material; and introducing an additional volume of fill material into the bone, the additional volume of fill material permeating and interdigitating with cancellous bone causing the periphery formed by the initial volume of curable bone fill material to surround interdigitated cancellous bone.