Patent ID: 8221468

Claim:
A bioabsorbable apparatus for anchoring at least a first sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body to a second adjacent sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body for use in an anterior extradiscal correction of a thoracolumbar pathology, comprising: a first bioabsorbable anchor for penetrating the anterior portion of a first sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body; a second bioabsorbable anchor for penetrating an anterior portion of a second sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body that is adjacent to the first sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body; and rigid bioabsorbable instrumentation means for fixedly connecting said first bioabsorbable anchor to said second bioabsorbable anchor with sufficient strength and rigidity to maintain said first sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body in compressive, fixed, bone on bone contact with and surgical fixation to the second sacral, thoracic or lumbar vertebral body until the first and second vertebral bodies fuse together and the bioabsorbable apparatus is absorbed by a patient's body.