Patent ID: 8163021

Claim:
A method for accessing and repairing an intervertebral disc in the spine comprising: engaging a trajectory control apparatus to a non-endplate surface of a vertebral body; forming a transcorporal channel in a vertebral body with a trajectory that extends from a non end-plate surface to an end plate where a channel opening communicates into an intervertebral space; implanting into the transcorporal channel a spinal repair device sized and configured to occupy at least a portion of the channel, the implanted spinal repair device comprising an internal lumen and a back flow control element located in the lumen; evacuating substantially all gas from the intravertebral space; and injecting a disc replacement material through the implanted spinal repair device and directly into a void within a space formerly occupied by at least a portion of the intervertebral disc and allowing gas from within the intervertebral space to escape through the spinal repair device during the injecting step, such that the void is substantially entirely filled with disc replacement material.