National Research Council of Canada

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning / Mcgill University

Paul A Martineau

Louis-Philippe Lefebvre

Edward J Harvey

A bone screw and method of producing the same is described. The method of producing a bone screw includes forming a one-piece headless screw body out of a rigid metallic foam that is entirely porous throughout and defines a plurality of inter-connected pores having a size of about 30 to about 500 microns in diameter. The method includes providing at least one thread on an external surface of the screw body, and forming a bore extending through an entire axial length of the screw body, the bore forming a cannula that defines an annular radial wall thickness of the screw body. The method further includes disposing the inter-connected pores throughout the radial wall thickness of the screw body such as to allow for bone in-growth through the full radial wall thickness and into the cannula.

Method of producing a porous bone screw

A bone screw is described which includes a one-piece threaded screw body composed at least partially of a rigid foam. The screw body is headless and includes a bore extending therethrough to define a cannula and thereby providing the screw body with an annular shape defining a radial wall thickness. At least a central portion of the screw body is formed of the rigid foam which defines a matrix having a plurality of inter-connected pores therein. The inter-connected pores are disposed throughout the complete radial wall thickness of the screw body from an outer surface of the screw body to an inner surface thereof within the cannula, such as to permit bone in-growth through the complete radial wall thickness of the annular screw body. The inter-connected pores and the cannula thereby respectively allow bone in-growth through the complete radial wall thickness and the full axial length of the screw body.

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Westmount, Canada

Paul A Martineau