Patent ID: 9592087
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A method of performing a surgical cutting procedure, the method comprising: providing a handpiece having an outer housing and defining a central bore; providing a cutting tool having a tool shank and a cutting tip; providing a guard including: assembling the housing of the guard to the outer housing of the handpiece such that the passageway is open to the bore; inserting the tool shank through the leading end opening of the passageway and into the bore, wherein upon insertion, the cutting tip is positioned distal the guard and the first end of the wire contacts the tool shank; coupling the tool shank to a drive mechanism of a motor assembly maintained by the handpiece; electrically connecting an evoked potential monitoring system to the second end of the wire such that an energy source of the evoked potential monitoring system is in electrical communication with the cutting tip; delivering the cutting tip to a surgical site; operating the motor assembly to perform a cutting operation with the cutting tip at the surgical site; applying a stimulation energy to the cutting tip via the energy source; and detecting a proximity of the cutting tip to a nerve based upon reference to the stimulation energy.