Posterior spinal device and method
First Claim
1. An intervertebral joint assembly comprising:
- an upper support having a lower surface and comprising two or more components, wherein said upper support components may be arranged in situ to form the upper support; and
a lower support having an upper surface and comprising two or more components wherein said lower support components may be arranged in situ to form the lower support; and
wherein the upper support the upper and lower surfaces are adapted to engaged each other or an intermediate member to form an articulate joint.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An intervertebral joint assembly includes an upper support and a lower support, each of which has two or more components. The upper and lower support components are arranged in situ to form the upper and lower supports, respectively. By arranging the supports in situ, the supports can be introduced from the back of the patient, for example with an arthroscope. Each of the upper and lower supports has a surface adapted to engage a vertebra and a surface adapted to engage the other support or an intermediate member to form an articulate joint which articulates the joint assembly. In some embodiments, the components of the upper and lower supports are assembled in situ, for example with pivoting, telescoping or bending, to form the upper and lower supports, respectively. The supports can be attached to vertebrae with pedicles screws, and/or other anchors attached to the supports.
369 Citations
86 Claims
-
1. An intervertebral joint assembly comprising:
-
an upper support having a lower surface and comprising two or more components, wherein said upper support components may be arranged in situ to form the upper support; and
a lower support having an upper surface and comprising two or more components wherein said lower support components may be arranged in situ to form the lower support; and
wherein the upper support the upper and lower surfaces are adapted to engaged each other or an intermediate member to form an articulate joint. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A method for introducing a joint assembly to an intervertebral space between a pair of vertebral bodies, said method comprising:
-
introducing upper support components, arranging the components in situ into an upper support, introducing lower support components to the intervertebral space; and
arranging the lower support components into a lower support, wherein the support surfaces are arranged to articulate. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. A method for assembling an intervertebral prosthesis in situ within a patient, the method comprising:
-
introducing components of the intervertebral prosthesis into the patient in a narrow profile arrangement; and
rotating at least one gear to pivot the components from the narrow profile arrangement to a wide profile arrangement to assemble the prosthesis. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
-
-
40. An instrument for introducing a joint assembly to an intervertebral space between a pair of vertebral bodies, the instrument comprising:
-
a shaft; and
a cartridge to retain the joint assembly, the cartridge coupled to the shaft, and wherein the cartridge comprises a structure to engage the intervertebral joint assembly and pivot at least one component of the intervertebral joint assembly. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
-
-
49. An intervertebral joint assembly comprising:
-
an upper support having a lower surface and comprising two or more components and at least one gear to arrange the components, wherein said upper support components may be arranged in situ with rotation of the at least one gear of the upper support to assemble the upper support; and
a lower support having an upper surface and comprising two or more components and at least one gear to arrange the components, wherein said lower support components may be arranged in situ with rotation of the at lest one gear of the lower support to assemble the lower support; and
wherein the upper and lower surfaces are adapted to engage each other or an intermediate member to form an articulate joint. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
-
-
59. An intervertebral prosthesis comprising:
-
a first support adapted to expand from a narrow profile to an expanded profile while in an intervertebral space; and
a second support adapted to expand from a narrow profile to an expanded profile while in the intervertebral space;
wherein the first and second supports are adapted to engage each other or an intermediate member to articulate while in the expanded configurations. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61)
-
-
62. A method of articulating adjacent vertebrae, the method comprising:
-
inserting an intervertebral prosthesis into an intervertebral space between the adjacent vertebrae; and
expanding the intervertebral prosthesis from a narrow profile configuration to an expanded configuration, wherein the prosthesis articulates the adjacent vertebrae in the expanded configuration. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
-
-
68. A method of articulating adjacent vertebrae, the method comprising:
-
penetrating a spinal disc annulus located between the adjacent vertebrae to form an opening in the spinal disc annulus;
inserting a spinal prostheses in a narrow profile configuration through the opening; and
expanding the spinal prosthesis inside the annulus from the narrow profile configuration to an expanded profile configuration, wherein the spinal prosthesis articulates the vertebrae while in the expanded configuration. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71)
-
-
72. A method of removing an expandable prosthesis from an intervertebral space, the method comprising:
-
collapsing the expandable prosthesis from an expanded configuration to a narrow profile configuration while the prosthesis is positioned in the intervertebral space; and
removing the expandable prosthesis from the intervertebral space in the narrow profile configuration. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74)
-
-
75. A method of preparing an intervertebral space for a prosthesis, the method comprising:
-
removing material from the intervertebral space; and
inserting an expandable member into the intervertebral space to evaluate the intervertebral space. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77)
-
-
78. A method of positioning a prosthesis in an intervertebral space, the method comprising:
-
inserting a first instrument through a first surgical opening to contact the prosthesis at a first location; and
inserting a second instrument through a second surgical opening to contact the prosthesis at a second location, wherein a position of the prosthesis is adjusted with the first instrument and the second instrument. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80)
-
-
81. A prosthesis assembly for insertion into an intervertebral space, the prosthesis assembly comprising:
-
a first end portion adapted to attach to a first instrument while the prosthesis is positioned in an intervertebral space; and
a second end portion adapted to attach to a second instrument while the prosthesis is positioned in the intervertebral space. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83)
-
-
84. An instrument for introducing a prosthesis into an intervertebral space between a pair of vertebral bodies, the instrument comprising:
-
a shaft; and
a structure connected to the shaft near the end of the shaft, wherein the structure adapted to retain the joint assembly while the joint assembly is advanced into the intervertebral space such that components of the prosthesis pivot from a narrow profile configuration to an expanded profile configuration. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86)
-
Specification