Patent ID: 8221460

Claim:
A spinal surgical instrument for distracting a disc space, comprising: a shaft extending between a proximal end and a distal end, said shaft having an inflation lumen and a material delivery lumen; and a pear shaped inflatable portion adjacent said distal end, said inflatable portion having an interior in communication with said inflation lumen and a reduced size configuration for insertion into the disc space and an enlarged inflated configuration, wherein when in said inflated configuration said inflatable portion defines an upper vertebral endplate contacting surface and an opposite lower vertebral endplate contacting surface, each of said upper and lower vertebral endplate contacting surfaces having a vertebral endplate contacting area, wherein in said inflated configuration each of said vertebral endplate contacting surfaces of said inflatable portion has an anterior contacting node and a posterior contacting node and a concave surface extending between said anterior and posterior contacting nodes so that said anterior and posterior contacting nodes are positionable against apophyseal rings of vertebral endplates adjacent the disc space and the concave surfaces span central portions of the vertebral endplates between the anterior and posterior contacting nodes, wherein a height of said anterior contacting node is less than a height of said posterior contacting node, wherein said material delivery lumen extends through said inflatable portion and opens at said distal end of said shaft, wherein said delivery lumen delivers a material in a first condition about said inflatable portion when said inflatable portion is in said inflated configuration in the disc space, said material being changeable to a second condition after delivery.