Spine surgery method and instrumentation
OwnerHenry F. Fabian, Larry A. Cicorettiinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Surgical instrumentation for use in placing an implant into a disc space between a pair of spinal vertebrae may include: (a) a distractor having a distal end that may be placed into the disc space between the pair of spinal vertebrae; (b) an inserter for use in moving the implant toward the disc space between the pair of spinal vertebrae; and, (c) a distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection that interconnects the distractor and the inserter for relative movement thereby.
Claims37
A method of placing an implant into a disc space between a pair of spinal vertebrae comprising the steps of:
- providing a distractor and an inserter having a distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection;
- placing a distal end of the distractor into the disc space between the pair of spinal vertebrae;
- placing the implant at a proximal end of the distractor;
- placing the inserter into the distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection and against the implant;
- moving the inserter along the distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection to thereby move the implant from the proximal end of the distractor to the distal end of the distractor;
- inserting the implant into the disc space;
- and,
- deploying the implant within the intradical space by applying tension to a cable that is operatively connected to the implant and that extends at least partially through the inserter.
A method of placing an implant into a disc space between a pair of spinal vertebrae comprising the steps of:
- providing a distractor and an inserter having a distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection;
- providing the inserter and the implant with an inserter/implant concave/convex interconnection, this step comprising the steps of:
- providing the implant with a convex surface;
- and, providing the inserter with a concave surface that receives the convex surface;
- placing a distal end of the distractor into the disc space between the pair of spinal vertebrae;
- placing the implant at a proximal end of the distractor;
- placing the inserter into the distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection and against the implant, this step comprising the step of:
- placing the inserter into the inserter/implant concave/convex interconnection;
- tightening the concave surface against the convex surface, this step comprising the step of:
- moving a sleeve along the length of the inserter to compress a slot formed at a distal end of the inserter moving the inserter along the distractor/inserter rail/groove interconnection to thereby move the implant from the proximal end of the distractor to the distal end of the distractor;
- and
- inserting the implant into the disc space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.