Patent ID: 8480748

Claim:
A method of installing and using an implant to distract and stabilize a disc space between two adjacent vertebrae so as to enable bone graft material to fuse said adjacent vertebrae, said vertebrae each having a cortical rim and an endplate, said adjacent vertebrae having an annulus and a disc space therebetween, said implant having an elongate body of a length sufficient to extend laterally across said cortical rims of the adjacent vertebrae bodies and to be at least in part engaged by said cortical rims of said adjacent vertebrae bodies, said implant body having an upper surface and a lower surface, said method comprising the steps of: a. making a posterolateral incision in said annulus at the desired level to access disc space between the adjacent vertebrae to be fused; b. performing a discectomy of the disc material within the annulus via said incision in said annulus; c. preparing the endplates of said adjacent vertebrae bodies; d. forming a first opening in the anterolateral side of said annulus generally opposite said incision; e. forming a second opening in the anterolateral side of said annulus generally opposite said first opening; f. selecting said implant such that the upper and lower surfaces of said implant have a desired lordotic angle; g. inserting said implant into said disc space via said incision; h. installing a first end of said implant in said first opening; i. installing a second end of said implant in said second opposite opening such that said implant extends generally laterally of said vertebrae bodies and is at least in part engaged by the cortical rims of said vertebrae bodies; j. distracting said disc space a desired amount; and k. retracting said adjacent vertebrae bodies such that said upper and lower faces of said implant are supported on the cortical rims of said adjacent vertebrae bodies such that said lordotic angles introduce a desired amount of segmental lordosis in the reconstructed disc space.