Occipital-Cervical Plate for Spinal Fixation

Fixation of the skull to the cervical spine may be used to treat trauma to the neck, degenerative diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and congenital instability. Many current implantable devices designed to immobilize the skull with respect to the upper cervical spine are assemblies of several components which are not designed specifically for fusing the cervical spine to the skull, but instead are assembled from multiple components designed for other applications. Such assembly may prolong and complicate the implantation procedure; in addition, these devices are also designed for adults and are typically too large for use in children. Researchers at the University of Utah Department of Neurosurgery have developed a one-piece occipital-cervical plate that addresses these issues.

Benefits
This has broad application for occipital-cervical fixation with 500 surgical cases being performed per year in pediatric patients alone.

Stage of Development
A formal US patent application has been filed with USPTO and has been published (US-2006-0004363-A1).
This technology is part of an active and ongoing research program which has been demonstrated to work in proof-of-concept experiments that includes a working prototype validated in clinical trials (see related research). It is available for licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*http://uuhsc.utah.edu/neurosurgery/FacultyDLB.htm
*Gluf WM, Brockmeyer DL. (2005) Atlantoaxial transarticular screw fixation: a review of surgical indications, fusion rate, complications, and lessons learned in 67 pediatric patients. J Neurosurg Spine. (2):164-9.

Inventor(s): Douglas Brockmeyer, Nathan Avery

Type of Offer: Licensing



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