US Patent Issued to MUSC Foundation for Research Development on March 4 for "Expandable vertebral body replacement device and method" (South Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,239,545, issued on March 4, was assigned to MUSC Foundation for Research Development (Charleston, S.C.).

"Expandable vertebral body replacement device and method" was invented by Mark Evald Semler (Mount Pleasant, S.C.), Bruce Frankel (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) and Joseph Ruscito (Charleston, S.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An expandable vertebral body device, system, instrument, and methods of assembly and using the device, system, and instrument are disclosed. The vertebral body device includes a body with a first end and a second end, a first rotating member rotatably coupled to the first end, a second rotating member rotatably couple...