Surgical implant with guiding rail
AssigneeStryker European Operations Holdings LLC
InventorLee L. Thibodeau
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A prosthetic intervertebral spacer includes a body having a front end, a rear end, an anterior side, a posterior side, a top surface, and a bottom surface, and an arcuate interface extending away from the body and being connected to the rear end and the posterior side of the body. A method of inserting and positioning the spacer includes engaging a tool to the interface, inserting the spacer at least partially into the intervertebral disc space by moving the tool along an insertion direction, and allowing the spacer to rotate with respect to the insertion direction within the intervertebral disc space while continuing to move the tool along the insertion direction.
Claims20
A surgical method comprising:
- positioning a distal end of an arm of a tool adjacent an interface of an implant, the interface defining a rail having a neck portion connected to and extending away from a rear end of a body of the implant, the rail further having a lip portion connected to the neck portion, the lip portion being wider than the neck portion in a direction extending between top and bottom surfaces of the body;
- moving an inner surface of a sleeve of the tool over the distal end of the arm to engage the tool to the interface of the implant;
- moving the tool along an insertion direction to insert the implant at least partially into an intervertebral disc space between two adjacent vertebrae;
- and
- sliding the tool along the rail while moving the tool further along the insertion direction to allow the implant to rotate with respect to the insertion direction within the intervertebral disc space.
A surgical method comprising:
- positioning a distal end of an arm of a tool adjacent an interface of an implant, the interface defining a rail having a neck portion connected to and extending away from a rear end of a body of the implant, the rail further having a lip portion connected to the neck portion, the lip portion being wider than the neck portion in a direction extending between top and bottom surfaces of the body;
- moving an inner surface of a sleeve of the tool over the distal end of the arm to engage the tool to the interface of the implant;
- applying a force along an insertion direction to the tool engaged to the interface of the implant to move the implant in an intervertebral disc space between two adjacent vertebrae;
- and
- allowing a front end of the implant to interact with an annulus fibrosis of the intervertebral disc to cause rotation of the implant with respect to the insertion direction and to cause the tool to slide along the rail while continuing to move the tool along the insertion direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.