Patent ID: 9655505
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A system for creating and maintaining an operative corridor to a spinal surgical target site, comprising: a retractor assembly including a retractor body and a plurality of retractor blades extending generally perpendicularly to the retractor body, the retractor body being operable to separate the plurality of retractor blades relative to each other to retract tissue away from the interior of the retractor blades when the tissue retractor is advanced to the surgical target site and the retractor blades are separated to thereby form an operative corridor to the surgical target site, wherein at least one of the plurality of blades is an electrode blade configured to couple to an electrode member and an electrode member removably couplable with said electrode blade, the electrode member comprising a nonconductive material having a conductive trace extending a length thereof between a proximal exposed area and at least two distal exposed areas, the distal exposed areas comprising electrode contacts configured to at least one of transmit an electrical stimulation signal to tissue adjacent the distal portion of the posterior blade and record an evoked neurophysiologic response.