Granted Patent B2

US 7,632,278 · App. 11/012,770 · Granted Dec 15, 2009

Abstract

Claims (8)

1. A spine surgery instrument for cutting and removing a controlled amount of cortical endplate bone from at least one vertebral body adjacent to an intervertebral space remaining after excision of all or part of an intervertebral disc, said instrument comprising

a tome having a body with a parallelepiped shape and having a distal end and a proximal end, said parallelepiped having a top surface and a bottom surface when inserted into the intervertebral space, said distal end having a blunt front end region, said top surface and said bottom surface having set back from the blunt front end of the distal end a plurality of sharp edged serrations configured to cut or abrade the endplate of the at least one vertebral body.

2. The instrument of claim 1 in which the parallelepiped shape is a truncated four sided pyramid.

3. The instrument of claim 1 in which the parallelepiped shape is a rectangular parallelepiped.

4. The instrument of claim 1 in which the serrations comprise the end edges of protrusions in the top surface and the bottom surface.

5. The instrument of claim 1 in which the blunted front end region comprises a tip that is circular, parabolic, or ogive in shape, joined with flat inclined faces which are arranged symmetrically with one another, joined with parallel flat surfaces.

6. The instrument of claim 1 further comprising a shaft having a first end connected to the proximal end of the tome, and a second end having attached thereto an extension for engagement with mechanical energy transmission means.

7. The instrument of claim 6 further comprising a depth stop on the shaft between the body and the extension.

Assignments (15)