Patent ID: 8419739

Claim:
An apparatus for preparing vertebral body bone for osteochondral transplants of the vertebral disc between two prepared vertebral bodies, said apparatus comprising: a first cutting assembly for preparing a contoured cavity in the anterior aspect of a recipient spinal segment, said contoured cavity extending from a portion of a superior vertebral body, through at least a portion of diseased intervertebral disc, and spanning into a portion of an inferior vertebral body, said first cutting assembly including a first cutting jig, a first indexing element disposed on or in said first cutting jig, and a disc measurement stylus; and a second cutting assembly for creating and harvesting a bone/disc combination allograft from a donor spinal segment, said bone/disc combination closely matching the contours of the contoured cavity so as to ensure a close press fit of the combination bone/disc allograft in the contoured cavity, said second cutting assembly including a second cutting jig and a donor alignment guide; wherein said disc measurement stylus comprises two substantially parallel elongate blades, a connecting member joining said blades at one end, an indexing element support formed by or disposed on said connecting member, and a second indexing element disposed on said indexing element support, said second indexing element being the male or female counterpart to said first indexing element disposed on or in said first cutting jig, and wherein said blades are spaced apart so as to facilitate placement into the annulus fibrosis of the diseased disc on the surface of the bone end plate to establish the depth of bone removal from the vertebral bodies of the recipient spinal segment.