The invention relates to a bone implant, the use of an implant and a method of stabilizing a fractured or non-fractured bone according to the independent claims.

Bone implants are widely used for stabilizing fractured bones.

US 2009/0157078 for example discloses a cannulated screw for re- pairing defects in the humerus or the femur. Part of the screw does not contain a thread but holes through which cement may be introduced into a void into the bone. This device comprises a screw head on one side of the implant which requires the screw to partly extend outside the bone. The other end of the implant is threaded so that the screw is only fixed in case the thread can be fixed inside the bone on the side opposite of the screw head. Such an implant is limited in its applications.

WO 2012/142032 discloses a method and a device for bone prepara ^¬ tion. The device comprises an insertion structure with perfora- tions through which a fluid may be introduced into the bone. The device may be used for internal fixation of fractions or can be implemented into possibly weak and/or cancerous bone. The fluid may be bone cement. The implant part of the device is fixed on the outside of the bone and is therefore very complicated. Fur- thermore, several implants are used in one bone, which weakens the bone tissue due to the number of introduction channels.

WO 2012/066236 is directed to a device combining two intersect ^¬ ing implants for preventive or curative treatment of fractures of the femur. The intersecting implants are fixed relative to each other and thereby prevent any movement of the implants. Such a device can only be applied in bones that allow for intersecting implants.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to avoid the drawbacks of the prior art and to create a bone implant, the use of a bone implant and a method for stabilizing a fractured or non-fractured bone which can be versatilely used in different bones of the human body and allows for a stable positioning in ^¬ side the bone.

The object is accomplished by a bone implant for stabilizing fractured or non-fractured bones comprising an implant body which preferably is a cylindrical body. The implant body extends along a longitudinal axis from a front side to an end side. The implant body has an implant width expending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, wherein a length of the implant body along the longitudinal axis is at least five times the implant width. The implant body has an outer surface which is at least divided into a first surface and a second surface wherein the first surface consists of an anchorage area which extends at least partially over the outer surface, preferably maximum over half of the outer surface.

The anchorage area according to the invention comprises a sur ^¬ face that improves the fixation of the implant when implanted in a bone. The bone tissue can more easily grow into the implant and the anchorage of the implant in the bone is improved. Such an implant is easily introduced and fixed inside a bone, especially a vertebra. The anchorage area preferably is located at the proximal end of the implant when implanted into a bone.

The implant body preferably has a constant implant width at least across the first surface and the second surface. Further- more the implant does not comprise a widening on the proximal end like for example a screw head. Hence, preferably the implant width is constant over at least the first and the second sur ^¬ face, while the implant width in other areas only may be small ^¬ er .

The first surface and the second surface respectively preferably extend along the longitudinal axis and 360° around the longitu ^¬ dinal axis .

The implant can comprise a bore extending along the longitudinal axis or parallel to the longitudinal axis having at least one, preferably two openings at the front side and/or at the end side.

A bore inside the bone implant leads to a lighter implant and in case of two openings the possibility of introduction of fluids into the bone.

The length of the bone implant can be in a range from 10 mm to 250 mm .

The specific bone implant can be used for different bones and still has a length needed for stabilizing the respective bone.

The width of the bone can be in a range from 5 mm (for ribs) to 50 mm (for femoral diaphysis) or 80 mm (for humeral head) . The width of the bone implant can be in a range from 2mm to 10mm.

Such a bone implant can easily be introduced into a bone without destroying further bone tissue and nevertheless delivers enough stability to serve its purpose of stabilizing the bone.

The outer surface, preferably the second surface, can comprise holes having a wall around a hole axis.

The bone implant having holes on the outer surface or second surface respectively on the one hand leads to the possibility of bone tissue growing into the holes and thereby improving posi- tioning of the implant and in case of bone implant having a bore leading to the possibility of directing fluid into the bone tis ^¬ sue around the implant, where holes are located.

The fluid preferably is bone cement, such as PMMA bone cement, bio-resorbable bone cement or any other product allowing implant fixation in a bone.

The holes can have a diameter of 0.2 mm to 5 mm on the outer surface or the second surface respectively.

Through such a hole bone tissue can quickly grow in and fluid, such as bone cement, can easily be introduced into the bone.

The walls of the holes can have a cylindrical, preferably a con ^¬ ical shape.

Cylindrical holes are easy to manufacture and thereby lower man ^¬ ufacturing costs and the conical shape optimizes the distribu- tion of the fluid that is introduced into the bone through the bone implant.

The implant can comprise a first set of holes, wherein the hole axis of the first set of holes is arranged substantially perpen ^¬ dicular to the longitudinal axis. A set of holes can comprise one or more holes.

A hole with a hole axis arranged perpendicular to the longitudi ^¬ nal axis leads to the distribution of fluid through the hole ra ^¬ dially away from the implant and thus the bone cement reaches as far as possible. The implant can comprise a second set of holes, wherein the hole axis of the second set of holes is inclined relative to the lon ^¬ gitudinal axis, preferably inclined as an angle greater than 90° while smaller than 150° relative to the longitudinal axis. An inclined hole axis enables the distribution of a fluid to a specific point inside the bone when the implant is placed inside the bone .

The implant can comprise a third set of holes, wherein the hole axis of the third set of holes is inclined relative to the lon ^¬ gitudinal axis at an angle different from the second set of holes, preferably inclined at an angle smaller than 90° while larger than 30° relative to the longitudinal axis.

An inclined hole axis enables the distribution of a fluid inside the bone to a specific area when the implant is already inside the bone. Furthermore, inclined holes enable the introduction of bone cement even in sensitive areas of nerves, since it is pos ^¬ sible to direct the flow of the cement into specific areas.

Especially a combination of the first, second and third set of holes enables the direction of fluid from inside the implant to specific areas of the bone relative to the implant.

The holes can be distributed substantially equal in an area of 360° around the longitudinal axis of the outer surface or the second surface and preferably distributed in rows along the lon- gitudinal axis such that a distance between neighbouring holes in a row is substantially the same.

Such an arrangement allows for an optimised distribution of flu ^¬ id and a uniform distribution of tissue growing into the implant . The holes can be located in an area from 180° to 270° around a longitudinal axis on the outer surface or the second surface and preferably distributed in rows along the longitudinal axis such that the distance between neighbouring holes and a row is sub ^¬ stantially the same. The arrangement of the holes in an area from 180° to 270° around the longitudinal axis leads to the possibility of directing flu ^¬ id through the implant only to a part of the bone, where the fluid is needed. A first hole of a first row and a first hole of a second neigh ^¬ bouring row can have a different distance to the front side, preferably the difference in the distance is equal to half the distance of two neighbouring holes in a row.

Such a distribution of neighbouring holes of neighbouring rows leads to an optimised distribution of fluid being introduced through the implant into the bone.

The distribution of holes is preferably chosen such that the stability of the implant is not, or not significantly compro ^¬ mised and nevertheless the distribution of fluid is optimal for the specific situation. In spine, the holes will be placed in the distal part of the implant which is implanted in the verte ^¬ bral body, and the holes will be arranged such that cement is injectable at 270 to 300° around the longitudinal axis, not on the side of an upper endplate to avoid leakage in case of end- plate fracture.

In the humerus application, the holes are placed all along the implant, at 360° around the longitudinal axis, to allow a 360° cement flow. This allows a good implant fixation, a bone rein ^¬ forcement and to full fill tumour if applicable. The anchorage area can comprise means for improving the fixation of the implant within a bone, preferably a surface structure and/or a roughness and/or recesses.

The surface structure can be grooves, a thread or a ring shaped structure, while the thread or groove pitches or ring structures can be square, symmetrically triangular or asymmetrically trian- gular. Alternatively or additionally, the surface structure can comprise recesses that are straight, helicoidal or comprise crossed or diamond shaped pitches. A recess in the anchorage ar ^¬ ea can be from 0.5mm to 3 mm deep.

All depth values according to this invention are measured from top to bottom. Of course statistical variations can occur.

A surface structure improves the anchorage of the implant.

The roughness can vary from 1 micrometer to 0,5mm.

The anchorage area can comprise a surface structure in form of grooves, preferably 6 or 8 grooves, distributed substantially equally around the longitudinal axis, extending coaxially along the longitudinal axis.

The grooves can have the same shape and/or height as the recess ^¬ es and surface structures being a thread or ring shaped.

The use of surface structures in form of grooves improves the anchorage of the implant and therefore leads to a more durable and safer implant.

The anchorage area can comprise a surface structure in form of a thread or ring shaped grooves. Such an anchorage area improves the fixation of the implant inside the bone.

A cross section of the grooves can be U-shaped, V-shaped or square. By means of the grooves, the surface contact between the bone and the implant is increased and stress concentration on the bone is limited. It also allows implant stabilisation in ro ^¬ tation before the cement injection, which is for example important for spinal implants where the injection holes have to be oriented. After cement injection the implant stabilisation is done by the cement e.g. stabilisation of the implant in rotation and translation.

The implant can comprise a fixation connector allowing holding of the implant during introduction into a bone.

The fixation connector can for example be a thread by means of which the bone implant is connected to a tool. Preferably the fixation connector is a thread on the inside of the bore of the bone implant, while the inner thread preferably has a wider di- ameter than the rest of the bore to improve an easy introduction of a tool. By means of such an inner thread, the outer surface can be optimized for fixation of the implant inside the bone.

Furthermore, the fluid can be introducible through the tool and the implant when connected by the fixation connector. This leads to any easy handling of the implant when introducing and fixing the implant.

The outer surface can comprise a third surface having an at least partially conical shape. Such a third surface is arranged opposite of the anchorage surface and leads to the possibility of easier introducing the bone implant into the bone.

The implant can be made from any implantable material, such as PEEK, titanium, stainless steel or Nitinol or a combination thereof .

The object is further accomplished by the use of an implant as previously described for restoring a fractured bone.

The object is further accomplished by the use of an implant as previously described for preventing a fracture in a bone.

Fractured bones can for example be the humeral head or diaphy- sis, the calcaneus, the wrist radius, the tibia, the pelvis or the ribs. Examples for an application for preventing the fracture of the bone is e. g. the humerus or the ribs or spinal ver ^¬ tebral body for example in case of severe osteoporosis or lytic lesion tumour induced.

The object is further accomplished by a method of stabilizing a fractured or non-fractured bone by inserting a bone implant as previously described into a bone and preferably introducing bone cement into the bone through the bone implant.

Such a method leads to an easy introduction and fixation of the bone implant inside the bone without the need of any plates or additional fixation means.

In the following, the invention is described in embodiments by means of figures. It shows:

Figure 1: a bone implant in a first embodiment,

Figure 2 : a first section of a bone implant in a second em ^¬ bodiment

Figure 3 : a cross-section through a bone implant in a third embodiment,

Figure 4 : a bone implant in a fourth embodiment,

Figure 5 : a cross-section through a bone implant according to figure 4,

Figure 6: a bone implant in a fifth embodiment,

Figures 6a

to 6c : a detailed view of figure 6, Figure 7 : a cross-section through a bone implant in a sixth embodiment Figure 8: two bone implants stabilizing a fracture in a ver ^¬ tebra,

Figure 9: two implants according to the third embodiment for stabilizing a fracture in a vertebra, Figure 10: a bone implant according to the first embodiment for stabilizing the humerus.

Figure 1 shows a bone implant 1 according to a first embodiment. The bone implant 1 comprises an implant body 2 having a longitu- dinal axis 3. The implant body 2 comprises a front side 4 and an end side 5. Additionally, the implant body 2 is separated into a first surface 7 and a second surface 8. The first surface 7 com ^¬ prises an anchorage area 9 for improving the anchorage of the implant in a bone. Perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the implant body 2 comprises an implant width 6. The implant width 6 is constant along the first surface 7 and the second surface 8 and not exceeded at any other point of the implant 1. The second surface 8 comprises holes 12 and a bore 10 inside the implant body 2. The holes 12 enable the introduction of a fluid such as bone cement through the implant 1 into the bone and optimize the fixation of the implant 1 inside the bone due to growing bone tissue into the holes 12. The implant body 2 further comprises a third surface 17 which has a conical shape. The width of the im ^¬ plant is reduced in the third surface such that the introduction of the implant 1 into the bone is easier. The front side 4 of the implant body 2 is rounded such that it forms a semi-sphere to facilitate introduction of the implant 1 into the bone. The anchorage area 9 of the first surface 7 comprises a surface structure for improving the anchorage of the implant 1 inside the bone. The holes are distributed 360° around the circumfer ^¬ ence of the implant body 2, while the holes 12 are arranged in rows. The rows are offset relative to each other such that a first hole 12 of a first row 18 has a different distance from the front side 4 than a first hole 12 of a second neighbouring row (not shown) . The length of an implant body is 100 mm while the implant width is 5 mm. The diameter of the holes 12 is 2.5 mm. The wall of the holes 12 has a cylindrical shape.

For example values for standard spinal implant will be: length from 50 to 85mm, preferably mean 70mm, diameter from 4 to 7mm, preferably 5mm, holes from 1mm to 3mm. preferably 2-2, 5mm. Figure 2 shows a cross-section through a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the implant body 2 comprises a bore 10 along the longitudinal axis. On the end side 5 a fixa ^¬ tion connector is arranged to enable a connection of the implant body 2 with an insertion tool (not shown) . Contrary to the first embodiment in figure 1, the holes 12 in the second embodiment are arranged over a larger second surface 8 relative to a small ^¬ er first surface 7. A first set of holes 12 comprises a hole ax ^¬ is 11a which is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 3. A second set of holes comprises an inclined axis lib, while the inclination of the hole axis lib is 120° relative to the longitudinal axis 3. The front side 4 further comprises a third surface 17 for facilitating introduction of the implant into a bone .

Figure 3 shows a cross section of a third embodiment of the in- vention. In this embodiment the bore 10 comprises a fixation connector 16 on the end side 5 of the implant body 2 which is threaded. By means of this thread a tool can be fixed in the im ^¬ plant. The holes 12 are arranged 270° around the longitudinal axis 13 and hence a fluid such as bone cement is only directed 260° from the implant. This way, sensitive areas will not be filled with fluid or specific bone cement. Figure 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention. This embod ^¬ iment corresponds to the first embodiment in figure 1 apart from the first surface 7 comprising the anchorage area 9. The anchor ^¬ age area 9 comprises a thread in which the thread pitches extend from the implant width 6. Such an anchorage area 9 improves the fixation of the implant inside the bone. Furthermore, the third surface 17 in this embodiment is shorter relative to the embodi ^¬ ment in figure 1 and thereby a conical shape of the third sur ^¬ face 17 comprises a steeper inclination relative to the embodi- ment in figure 1. Additionally, the front side 4 is more peaked relative to the embodiment in figure 1.

Figure 2 shows the embodiment as disclosed in figure 3 while the first surface 7 comprises an anchorage area 9 having a thread. The anchorage area 9 in this embodiment corresponds to the an- chorage area 9 shown in figure 4.

Figure 6 shows an embodiment of the implant 1 which comprises a first surface 7 having longitudinal grooves 13. The longitudinal 13 grooves improve the anchorage of the bone implant inside the bone. The longitudinal grooves can comprise a cross-sectional shape that is square, such that it avoids rotation (figure 6a) , semi-spherical such that insertion is easier and the bone con ^¬ tact is better compared to square shapes or angles (figure 6b) or triangular such that the surface contact is maximised ( figure 6c) . The holes 12 in the embodiment according to figure 6 are only distributed from 270° up to 300° around the circumference of the implant 1.

Figure 7 shows a cross-section through the embodiment according to figure 6. The bore 10 along the longitudinal axis 3 comprises a fixation connector 16 which enables a threaded connection to a tool (not shown) . The holes 12 are arranged along three differ ^¬ ent hole axis 11a to 11c. The first hole axis 11a is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The hole axis lib for the second set of holes is arranged at 130° relative to the lon ^¬ gitudinal axis 3. The hole axis 11c for the third set of holes is arranged at 60° relative to the longitudinal axis. Such a hole arrangement is especially suitable for an implant in a ver- tebra since bone cement introduced through the bore 10 and holes 12 is optimally distributed in the vertebra. The purpose is to avoid the risk of leakage through the vertebral body walls, an ^¬ terior or posterior, that could have been damaged by a fracture.

Figures 8a to 8c show an exemplary embodiment of the use of the implant in a vertebra. Figure 8a shows the top view, figure 8b shows a side view and figure 8c shows a rear view from a verte ^¬ bra in which two implants are introduced for stabilizing the vertebra. The implants introduced in this embodiment are im ^¬ plants according to figure 1. Figures 9a to 9c show the same views as figure 8 applying an em ^¬ bodiment of the implant according to figure 4.

Figure 10 shows an implant 1 used as a stabilizing implant in a humerus. The humerus is not fractured. The implant 1 is never ^¬ theless introduced into the bone for stabilizing it. The arrow shows the way of introducing implant 1 into the humerus.