Patent ID: 7118573

Claim:
A plate adapted to be applied to the anterior human cervical spine for contacting the anterior aspects of at least two adjacent cervical vertebral bodies to be fused together, said plate comprising: at least a first plate segment adapted to be attached to one of the adjacent vertebral bodies to be fused and at least a second plate segment adapted to be attached to another one of the adjacent vertebral bodies to be fused, said at least first and second plate segments adapted to be connected to one another and at least in part overlapped to form said plate, said at least first and second plate segments being in a moveable relationship to one another along a longitudinal axis of said plate, each of said at least first and second plate segments including: a lower surface adapted to contact at least one of the cervical vertebral bodies and an upper surface opposite said lower surface said lower surface being concave at least In part along at least a portion of the longitudinal axis of said plate; at least one bone screw receiving hole extending from said upper surface through said lower surface, each of said bone screw receiving holes adapted to overlie one of the cervical vertebral bodies and being adapted to receive at least one bone screw for engaging the cervical vertebral body to attach said plate to the cervical spine; said first and second plate segments being configured to couple together in cooperative relationship so as to facilitate movement of said first and second plate segments in a direction toward one another along the longitudinal axis of said plate and to resist movement of said first and said second plate segments in a direction away from one another along the longitudinal axis of said plate, said first and second plate segments when attached to the ad scent vertebral bodies, respectively, being adapted to move toward one another in response to movement of the adjacent vertebral bodies toward each other.