Surgical access system and related methods
CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method of accessing a surgical target site, comprising the steps of:
- creating an initial distraction corridor through tissue extending between an incision point and a surgical target site via an initial distraction assembly including a K-wire and at least one dilator capable of being slideably passed over said K-wire;
distracting said tissue from said initial distraction corridor to a secondary distraction corridor with an instrument capable of being guided to said surgical target site along said at least one dilator of said initial distraction assembly;
introducing a plurality of retractor blades for retracting said tissue from said secondary distraction corridor to create an operative corridor to said surgical target site; and
providing a control unit capable of electrically stimulating at least one stimulation electrode provided on said initial distraction assembly, sensing a response of a nerve depolarized by said stimulation, determining at least one of nerve proximity and nerve direction from said initial distraction assembly to the nerve based upon the sensed response, and communicating to a user at least one of visual indicia and audio communications representing at least one of said determined nerve proximity and said determined nerve direction.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for accessing a surgical target site and related methods, involving an initial distraction system for creating an initial distraction corridor, and an assembly capable of distracting from the initial distraction corridor to a secondary distraction corridor and thereafter sequentially receiving a plurality of retractor blades for retracting from the secondary distraction corridor to thereby create an operative corridor to the surgical target site, both of which may be equipped with one or more electrodes for use in detecting the existence of (and optionally the distance and/or direction to) neural structures before, during, and after the establishment of an operative corridor to a surgical target site.
-
Citations
9 Claims
-
1. A method of accessing a surgical target site, comprising the steps of:
-
creating an initial distraction corridor through tissue extending between an incision point and a surgical target site via an initial distraction assembly including a K-wire and at least one dilator capable of being slideably passed over said K-wire; distracting said tissue from said initial distraction corridor to a secondary distraction corridor with an instrument capable of being guided to said surgical target site along said at least one dilator of said initial distraction assembly; introducing a plurality of retractor blades for retracting said tissue from said secondary distraction corridor to create an operative corridor to said surgical target site; and providing a control unit capable of electrically stimulating at least one stimulation electrode provided on said initial distraction assembly, sensing a response of a nerve depolarized by said stimulation, determining at least one of nerve proximity and nerve direction from said initial distraction assembly to the nerve based upon the sensed response, and communicating to a user at least one of visual indicia and audio communications representing at least one of said determined nerve proximity and said determined nerve direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A method of accessing a surgical target sites comprising the steps of:
-
creating an operative corridor through tissue extending between an incision point and a surgical target site via a distraction assembly and a retraction assembly, wherein said distraction assembly comprises an initial assembly including an elongate inner element and at least one dilator, said distraction assembly further comprises a secondary instrument advanceable to said surgical target site along said at least one dilator of said initial assembly, and wherein at least one of said distraction assembly and retraction assembly includes at least one stimulation electrode; electrically stimulating said at least one stimulation electrode; sensing a response of a nerve depolarized by said stimulation; determining at least one of nerve proximity and nerve direction of said nerve relative to at least one of said distraction assembly and said retraction assembly based upon the sensed response; and communicating indicia to a user representing at least one of said determined nerve proximity and said determined nerve direction. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
Specification