Patent ID: 7563281

Claim:
An apparatus for supporting vertebral bodies, comprising: a first end member adapted to engage a lower endplate of a first vertebral body; a second end member adapted to engage an upper endplate of a second vertebral body; at least two elongate support member coupled between said first and second end members to maintain an axial space between the first and second vertebral bodies; and wherein each of said first and second end members has a socket sized to receive a corresponding end portion of one of said at least two elongate support members therein, said socket of one of the first and second end members including a lateral opening sized to laterally receive said corresponding end portion of said one of said elongate support members, each of said first and second end member having a parametrical configuration extending about an open inner region arranged along an axis and defining a lateral passage communicating with said open inner region and opening in a direction transverse to said axis, said at least two elongate support members engaged with said first and second end members and spaced parametrically about said open inner region, said open inner region and said lateral passage extending axially through said first and second end members to provide exposure of the upper and lower endplates to the axial space between the first and second vertebral bodies, said first and second end members having an outer profile substantially complementary to a peripheral portion of the first and second vertebral bodies and sized and shaped such that said open inner region is positionable generally along a medial sagittal plane with the medial sagittal transversely intersecting said lateral passage.