Patent ID: 8172855
Filing Date: 2012-05-08
Classification: A61B,A61F

Abstract:
1. A method for the placement of an orthopedic implant into a interspinous space between the spinous process of a first vertebral bone and the spinous process of a second vertebral bone of a subject, wherein the first and second vertebral bones are immediately adjacent spinal levels, comprising: visualizing the spinous process of the first vertebral bone using radiographic imaging; visualizing the spinous process of the second vertebral bone using radiographic imaging; forming a pathway through skin and soft tissue that are adjacent to the spinous processes of the first and second vertebral bones, wherein a distal region of the pathway abuts the target inter-spinous space between the spinous processes of the first and second vertebral bones; passing a percutaneous implant sizing instrument into the inter-spinous space such that a distal region of the sizing instrument abuts each of the spinous processes of the first and second vertebral bones and such that a proximal region of the sizing instrument is positioned outside of the body cavity of the subject, and wherein the proximal region of the instrument provides an indicia of the size of the implant to be selected; distracting the spinous processes of the first and second vertebral bones with the distal region of the sizing instrument until the sizing instrument imparts a desired amount of distraction force onto the spinous processes and the spinous processes are separated by a separation distance; reading the indicia on the proximal region of the sizing instrument, wherein the indicia provides an indication of an appropriate implant size to be positioned in the inter-spinous space and wherein the indicia is at least partially based on the separation distance produced by the distraction force imparted to the spinous processes by the sizing instrument; selecting an orthopedic implant based on the indicia; advancing the selected implant through the formed pathway of the skin and soft tissue and into the target inter-spinous space.