Method and apparatus for placement of a reduced vertebral body replacement device during a surgical operation on the cervical portion of the spine including into a transcorporeal void

A method of placing an implant into a transcorporeal void created in at least one single vertebra of the cervical spine, the method comprising:

• creating a void in a vertebral body of the at least one vertebra, the void beginning anteriorly and directed posteriorly creating an exit at a back of the vertebral body;
• and
• placing the implant into the void between a superior endplate and an inferior endplate of the at least one single vertebra, the implant being a Vertebral Body Replacement device, the Vertebral Body Replacement device having at least one of a width of less than 12 millimeters and a diameter of less than 12 millimeters, the width and the diameter representing side-to-side dimensions of the Vertebral Body Replacement device after it has been placed into the void, wherein the Vertebral Body Replacement device has been given a PLR product code from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A method of performing a transcorporeal procedure including placement of a Vertebral Body Replacement device into a transcorporeal void within a cervical spine, the method comprising:

• creating a working channel through a vertebral body of a vertebra by removing at least a portion of the vertebral body of the single vertebra, beginning anteriorly and extending inwardly toward the epidural space, the working channel extending from an anterior wall through a posterior wall;
• and
• placing the Vertebral Body Replacement device within the working channel, the placement of the vertebral body replacement device leaving a superior endplate and an inferior endplate of the single vertebra to perform their function and leaving at least a portion of the intervertebral disc functional thereby avoiding an intervertebral fusion to an adjacent vertebra, the Vertebral Body Replacement device having at least one of a width of less than 12 millimeters and a diameter of less than 12 millimeters, the width and the diameter representing side-to-side dimensions of the Vertebral Body Replacement device after it has been placed into the working channel, wherein the Vertebral Body Replacement device has been given a PLR product code from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A method of providing a Vertebral Body Replacement device for placement into a cervical spine between two endplates of a single vertebra during the course of an anterior spinal surgical procedure upon the cervical spine wherein the Vertebral Body Replacement device has a width of less than twelve millimeters, the width representing side-to-side dimensions of the Vertebral Body Replacement device after it has been placed into the cervical spine, wherein the Vertebral Body Replacement device has been given a PLR product code from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).