Patent ID: 9486330
Filing Date: 2016-11-08
CPC Classification: A61B,A61F

Claim Text:
1. A method for performing a lateral trans-psoas spinal fusion procedure comprising: forming a surgical opening at a fusion site; inserting a plurality of releasably interconnected retractor blades into the surgical opening and moving them radially outward in a plurality of directions such that the retractor blades dilate and retract muscle and flesh within the surgical opening to form a passageway through a lumbar plexus at the fusion site to expose a lateral edge of a primary vertebral body; associating a wire pin with each of the retractor blades and inserting each of the wire pins into the lateral edge of the primary vertebral body to anchor each of the retractor blades into their retracted positions thereby stabilizing the passageway; forming an access opening in the lateral edge of and through the primary vertebral body to allow access to the disc space between the primary vertebral body and an adjacent vertebral body; preparing and distracting the disc space between the primary and adjacent vertebral bodies to expose a bony endplate of the adjacent vertebral body; inserting an interbody cage having external cutting elements, a plurality of fenestrations formed in an outer surface thereof, and an internal cavity into which is disposed a graft material and a removable expandable element through the primary vertebral body and into the disc space, and anchoring the cutting elements of the interbody cage in at least the bony endplates of the primary and adjacent vertebral bodies; expanding the expandable element to expand the interbody cage within the disc space; deflating the expandable element and removing the expandable element from the surgical opening by passing it through the access opening in the primary vertebral body; and threading a cylindrical cage, having a threading disposed about its outer circumference and a fenestrated internal cavity having disposed within a graft material, through the access opening in the primary vertebral body and into the adjacent vertebral body such that it passes through the disc space to stabilize the access opening in the primary vertebral body.