SUPERELASTIC SPINAL STABILIZATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A device for stabilizing at least a portion of the spinal column, including a longitudinal member sized to span a distance between at least two vertebral bodies (VU, VL) and being at least partially formed of a shape-memory material exhibiting pseudoelastic characteristics at about human body temperature. A number of bone anchors (24) are used to secure the longitudinal member is reformed from an initial configuration to a different configuration in response to the imposition of stress caused by relative displacement between the vertebral bodies (VU, VL),and recovers toward the initial configuration when the stress is removed to thereby provide flexible stabilization to the spinal column. In one embodiment, the longitudinal member is a plate defining a number of alternating ridges and grooves having an initial amplitude corresponding to the initial configuration and a different amplitude corresponding to the different configuration.