Granted Patent B2

US 12,285,342 · App. 18/173,151 · Granted Apr 29, 2025

Inventor: Faheem A. Sandhu (Washington, DC)

Assignee: DePuy Synthes Products, Inc.

A61F2/4611A61B17/1671A61B17/3417A61B17/3421A61F2/447A61B2017/00261A61B17/02A61B2017/3445A61F2002/30281A61F2002/30387A61F2002/3039A61F2002/30397A61F2002/304A61F2002/30433A61F2002/30507A61F2002/30522A61F2002/30538A61F2002/3055A61F2002/30556A61F2002/30579A61F2002/30601A61F2002/30827A61F2002/30841A61F2002/30878A61F2002/30904A61F2/4603A61F2002/4627

Abstract

Claims (17)

1. A method for accessing a patient's intervertebral disc to be treated in orthopedic surgery, the method comprising the steps of:

introducing a guiding element along a posterolateral trajectory towards the intervertebral disc;

passing at least one dilator over the guiding element;

passing an outer cannula over the guiding element, wherein a distal end of the outer cannula is positioned to allow direct visualization of an exiting nerve root of a Kambin's triangle with a camera; and

directly visualizing the exiting nerve root of the Kambin's triangle with the camera through the outer cannula.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of passing sequential dilators over the guiding element so as to sequentially dilate soft tissue along the posterolateral trajectory, wherein the at least one dilator comprises the sequential dilators.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after the introducing step, the step of inserting a surgical instrument through the outer cannula and performing a foraminoplasty through the outer cannula with the surgical instrument so as to enlarge the Kambin's triangle, wherein the surgical instrument is not defined by a sequential dilator.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises at least one of a burr and Kerrison rongeurs.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the posterolateral trajectory is between about 45 and 55 degrees with respect to the sagittal plane.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the guiding element comprises a trocar.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the guiding element comprises a K-wire.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of accessing the patient's intervertebral disc by passing surgical tools through the outer cannula.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of performing a nucleotomy through the outer cannula.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of performing a discectomy through the outer cannula so as to remove disc material from an intervertebral disc space.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of inserting an intervertebral implant through the outer cannula and into the intervertebral disc space.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of inserting an inner access cannular through the outer cannula.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of inserting the inner access cannula is performed prior to a step of performing a foraminoplasty through the outer cannula, wherein the inner access cannula is inserted through the outer cannula along a trajectory so as to avoid damage to the exiting nerve root.

Continuity (5)

References Cited (343)