| abstract |
With limited nutrients within the avascular disc, the water-retaining proteoglycans begin to diminish, resulting in dehydration, flattening and/or bulging of the disc. The flattened disc causes segmental instability, eroding the facet joints and causing pain. n In this invention, a disc inserting device contains a horizontally oriented protrusion with superior and inferior plateaus for inserting into the degenerated disc to maintain or restore disc height. The horizontally oriented protrusion is adjoined to a vertically oriented concave bracket with screw holes for fastening the concave bracket to the vertebral bodies sandwiching the degenerated disc. Thereby, the disc height is restored and fortified to reduce segmental instability and erosion of facet joints for pain relief. Furthermore, by altering the slopes of the plateaus, thickness and depth of the protrusion, spinal stenosis, scoliosis, kyphosis, lordosis or spondylolisthesis can be corrected with the disc inserting device. |