Patent ID: 8070812

Claim:
A method for partial replacement of a vertebral body comprising: (a) forming an implant recess within a human spine for receiving an implant, the implant recess defined by a first disc space, a second disc space, and a partial corpectomy formed in a vertebral body extending between the first disc space and the second disc space; (b) introducing an implant into the implant recess, the implant including a first contact plate to be positioned within the first disc space for connection to a first vertebral body, a second contact plate to be positioned within the second disc space for connection to a second vertebral body, a bridging part connecting the first and second contact plates to be positioned within the partial corpectomy extending between the first disc space and second disc space, the bridging part including at least one of a first hinge formed between a bottom of the first contact plate and a first hinge surface of the bridging part and a second hinge formed between a top of the second contact plate and a second hinge surface of the bridging part, that permits movement after implantation of the implant of the first contact plate or the second contact plate relative to the bridging part, an actuating device located on an anterior face of the bridging part, and deployable anchoring projections disposed within the bridging part; and (c) selectively deploying the anchoring projections in opposite lateral directions to penetrate into bone areas surrounding the partial corpectomy of the implant recess by rotating the actuating device.