Patent ID: 6348058
Filing Date: 2002-02-19
Classification: A61B,A61F,Y10S

Abstract:
A system for use in performing spinal surgery to prepare across a spinal disc and adjacent vertebrae an implantation space, said system comprising:a guide for providing access to prepare the implantation space across the spinal disc and into the adjacent vertebrae, said guide having a passage adapted to receive a tool through said guide for forming the implantation space, said guide having at least one emitter array attached thereto for use in identifying the location of said guide relative to the adjacent vertebrae; a computer controlled surgical navigation system employing an energy detecting array to track positions of said guide in three dimensional space relative to a known reference point; an inserter sized for passage through said guide, said inserter having at least one emitter array attached thereto for use in identifying the location of said inserter relative to the adjacent vertebrae, said inserter adapted to hold one of an artificial implant and a bone dowel for insertion into the implantation space; and wherein said computer controlled surgical navigation system tracks the position of said inserter in a three dimensional space relative to a known reference point, and said computer controlled surgical navigation system generates a display of the position of said inserter; and wherein said computer controlled surgical navigation system displays one of an artificial implant and a bone dowel on the end of said inserter based on the geometrical configuration of said inserter and of the one of the artificial implant and a bone dowel attached to said inserter being entered into said computer controlled system.