Improved inflatable device for use in surgical protocols relating to treatment of fractured or diseased bone

摘要

pparatus, for delivering a therapeutic substance to a treatment site within a bone, includes a body comprising a wall having an outer surface capable of expansion from a collapsed configuration to an expanded configuration to compress cancellous bone. The wall includes a material that is capable of restraining expansion. A therapeutic substance is arranged on the body to be compacted by the body into cancellous bone compressed by the wall. Figure 3 shows apparatus 109 comprising three inflatable balloon units 110, 112, 114 which have restraints 117 to limit expansion in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axes of the units. A tube system 115 is provided to direct liquid under pressure into the units and so that fluid can be used to inflate the units when placed inside bone in a deflated state. The restraints keep opposed sides 77, 79 substantially flat and parallel with each other. The therapeutic substance may include a chemotherapeutic agent, an osteoporosis drug or a growth factor.