Surgical access system and related methods
First Claim
1. A method of accessing a surgical target site within a patient, the patient having an anterior aspect, a posterior aspect, and two lateral aspects, the method comprising the steps of:
- creating an operative corridor through tissue extending between an incision point on one of the two lateral aspects of the patient and a lateral aspect of a spinal surgical target site via a distraction assembly and a retraction assembly, wherein said operative corridor is established to the spinal target site via a lateral, trans-psoas approach having a path axis that extends from the insertion position on the one of the two lateral aspects to the other of the two lateral aspects of the patient and extends through a region of a psoas muscle containing nerves, 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 spinal 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 in the region of the psoas muscle 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 for negotiating past the nerves in the region of the psoas muscle and avoiding direct contact with the nerves; and
communicating indicia to a user representing at least one of said determined nerve proximity and said determined nerve direction.
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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.
556 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of accessing a surgical target site within a patient, the patient having an anterior aspect, a posterior aspect, and two lateral aspects, the method comprising the steps of:
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creating an operative corridor through tissue extending between an incision point on one of the two lateral aspects of the patient and a lateral aspect of a spinal surgical target site via a distraction assembly and a retraction assembly, wherein said operative corridor is established to the spinal target site via a lateral, trans-psoas approach having a path axis that extends from the insertion position on the one of the two lateral aspects to the other of the two lateral aspects of the patient and extends through a region of a psoas muscle containing nerves, 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 spinal 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 in the region of the psoas muscle 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 for negotiating past the nerves in the region of the psoas muscle and avoiding direct contact with the nerves; and communicating indicia to a user representing at least one of said determined nerve proximity and said determined nerve direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification