Patent ID: 8920504

Claim:
An implantable device for use in fusing a pair of vertebrae together comprising: (a) a bowtie-shaped interspinous spacer body having a relatively narrow central portion having a first transverse dimension and having a pair of lateral ends each having a parallel, second, dimension larger than the first dimension, the body including: (i) a first, cranially-facing, vertebra-engaging face; (ii) a second, caudally-facing, vertebra-engaging face, said first and second vertebra-engaging faces being generally concave and facing oppositely apart from each other and each extending from one of the lateral ends along the central portion to the other of the opposite lateral ends; (iii) a ventral side having a ventrally-oriented face adjacent the first vertebra-engaging face, said ventrally-oriented face including a recessed portion shaped to bear against a dorsal aspect of a vertebral surface, and a lower portion protruding a distance in a ventral direction relative to said recessed portion and being of a size to fit within a cavity defined between inferior articulating processes of a vertebra after hemilaminotomy; (iv) a dorsal face; (v) a pair of opposite lateral end faces; and (vi) a pair of fastener receptacles, each said fastener receptacle extending from said dorsal face through said spacer body diagonally to a respective one of said opposite lateral end faces; and (b) a pair of fasteners each engaged in a respective one of said receptacles and extending laterally outwardly at an acute angle with respect to said dorsal face, and in a ventrally inclined direction from respective one of said opposite lateral end faces, far enough to engage and fasten together a respective facet joint between a pair of vertebrae.