Patent ID: 7056342

Claim:
A method for deploying at least one interbody spinal fusion implant at least in part across the surgically corrected height of a disc space and into adjacent vertebral bodies of a human spine, comprising the steps of: removing at least a portion of the disc from between the adjacent vertebral bodies; providing a first implant having an insertion end, a trailing end, opposed side walls, upper and lower walls, and fins extending outwardly from said upper and lower walls, said upper and lower walls having openings which pass therethrough so as to allow bone to grow through said first implant from one of the adjacent vertebral bodies to another of the adjacent vertebral bodies, said first implant having a cross-section with said side walls intersecting said upper and lower walls at four junctions, said four junctions including a first pair of diagonally opposed junctions having a distance therebetween less than the height of said body; inserting said first implant between the adjacent vertebral bodies with said opposed side walls directed toward the adjacent vertebral bodies; and rotating said first implant into a deployed position such that said fins penetrate the endplates of the adjacent vertebral bodies to access the interior, cancellous regions of the adjacent vertebral bodies.