Patent ID: 8696672
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A cutter for disrupting material in an intervertebral space between an endplate on a cephalad vertebral body and an endplate on an adjacent but more caudal vertebral body, the cutter comprising: a cutter shaft having a long axis; a cutter sheath surrounding at least a portion of the cutter shaft, the cutter sheath being a confined component of the cutter when assembled; a cutter blade comprising shape memory material; the cutter blade configured to be at least partially retracted into and extended from the cutter sheath, the shape memory material in the cutter blade adapted to assume a position with a default blade angle at least partially transverse to the long axis of the cutter shaft, the default blade angle assumed when an only constraint on the cutter blade is a connection to the cutter shaft, the default blade angle measured between a midline of the cutter blade when unsheathed and the long axis of the cutter shaft; and a sheath slot near a distal end of the cutter sheath so that the cutter blade when unsheathed may be positioned within the sheath slot so that a portion of the cutter sheath resists movement by the cutter blade to increase a current blade angle for the cutter blade positioned within the sheath slot; wherein the sheath slot is comprised of