SurGenTec’s Graftgun recently received device and method patent No. 9,668,881 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for their graft delivery technology that can be used to post-fill implant cages, according to a press release.
New Graft Delivery Technology Receives Core Patent
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The Graftgun not only allows surgeons to use the bone graft of their choice, but it allows the bone graft material to be delivered into bone voids, disc spaces, cages and implants in a minimally invasive way.
“Once the implant has been positioned and the inserter is removed, the device can be connected to post-fill a variety of implants. The Graftgun kit will include a universal loading device which enables surgeons to load allograft, autograft, or synthetic biologics into the gun’s delivery tube and dispense it to an orthopedic site,” the release said.
“We now have intellectual property that protects our ability to post-fill cages in situ,” said Travis Greenhalgh, CEO of SurGenTec in the release.
“One of the challenges when using expandable or monolithic cages is the ability to post-fill them once inserted into the disc space. The traditional way to post-fill a cage is to use a funnel or an elongated syringe. Most types of bone graft require significant force to extrude the material into the aperture of a cage.”
He added, “Our ratcheting technology provides users the force needed to extrude an array of bone graft materials, while maintaining superior control of the amount of graft that enters the cage and disc space. A concern with expandable cages is the ability to pack the implant with enough bone graft to provide maximum endplate contact. If there is a void between the bone graft and endplate there may be a higher risk of non-unions. The Graftgun ratcheting technology can help ensure the void is filled.”
SurGenTec is a privately owned medical device company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. They hope to release the Graftgun this summer.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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