Patent ID: 9226831
Filing Date: 2016-01-05
CPC Classification: A61F

Claim Text:
1. An intervertebral spacer for therapeutic treatment of a patient, comprising: at least one link having a body with a first opening extending from an upper surface to a lower surface sized and dimensioned to fit within an intervertebral space in the patient and configured to maintain a separation of two adjacent vertebrae for a period of time; at least one rigid guiding object insertable into the patient, said at least one rigid guiding object and said at least one link sized to be insertable into the patient using an MIS approach; at least one pivot connected between an end of one of said at least one link and an end of one of said at least one rigid guiding object, said at least one pivot configured to limit a relative range of angular orientation of said one of said at least one link and said one of said at least one rigid guiding object, said at least one pivot configured to transfer an insertion force from said at least one rigid guiding object to said at least one link, to advance said at least one link into the intervertebral space, a pivoting joint connected between adjacent links, and a resilient catch, the resilient catch being configured to couple to a hook element provided in an adjacent link having a body with a second opening therethrough, wherein the body with the first opening therethrough does not contact the body with the second opening therethrough when the resilient catch is coupled to the hook element, wherein the upper surface of the body is configured to contact one of the two adjacent vertebrae and the lower surface of the body is configured to contact the other of the two adjacent vertebrae, wherein the resilient catch bends to allow insertion of the hook element, wherein the resilient catch and hook element are provided between the same adjacent links as the pivoting joint.