Patent ID: 7534267

Claim:
A method of installing a vertebral defect device using a working tube and a surgical instrument, the method comprising: a) making an incision in a posterior region of a patient proximate a small gap between a first vertebra and a second vertebra of a spine of the patient, the small gap being off-center with respect to the posterior-side of the spine of the patient and proximate to the foraminae of the first and second vertebrae; b) inserting a distal end of the working tube through the incision; c) inserting a distal end of the surgical instrument into the working tube in order to access an intervertebral space between the first and second vertebrae; d) removing nuclear disk material from the intervertebral space; and e) inserting the vertebral defect device through the small gap into and within a nuclear region of the intervertebral space between the first and second vertebrae, the vertebral defect device including a housing having a convexly tapered and generally bluntly rounded distal end, a proximal end, a top, a bottom, an anterior side, a posterior side and an outer surface having generally rounded edges thereby facilitating insertion into an intervertebral space between a pair of adjacent vertebrae, a length of the housing as measured from the distal end to the proximal end being greater than a maximum width of the housing as measured between the anterior and posterior sides and being greater than a maximum height of the housing as measured between the top and bottom, the taper of the distal end being configured to provide distraction of adjacent vertebrae during insertion of the vertebral defect device, the maximum width of the housing as measured between the anterior and posterior sides being different than the maximum height of the housing as measured between the top and bottom, the top and bottom of the housing being at least partially convexly shaped sufficiently to cooperatively mate with concavities of adjacent vertebrae, and the anterior and posterior sides being at least partially convexly shaped in order to allow installation of the vertebral defect device into the space defined by the concavities of the adjacent vertebrae.