Patent ID: 8876870

Claim:
A method for treating effects of external compressions of a spinal cord at a site in a spinal column comprising the steps of: (a) providing an implantable barrier device for treating effects of the external compression of the spinal cord comprising: I) a frame member formed from a material exhibiting shape memory properties, said frame when unconstrained, having a generally rectangular center section with a width dimension less than a length dimension and flat, rounded end portions having a diameter of greater dimension than said width dimension, the frame member forming the general shape of a dumbbell, being generally symmetrical about a central longitudinal axis and having a convex contour centered about the central longitudinal axis; and 2) a non-porous elastomeric sheet applied to the frame member such that the sheet is held taut by the frame member when the frame member is not being constrained; (b) percutaneously inserting a tubular needle into a patient at a location beneath the location of the external spinal cord compression site, such that the needle tip resides in a subarachnoid or intradural space in the spinal column; (c) advancing a delivery catheter through the tubular needle and continuing to advance the delivery catheter cephalically under imaging guidance until a distal end of the delivery catheter extends cephalically beyond the location of the external compression site; (d) inserting the barrier device in a compressed state into a proximal end of a lumen of the delivery catheter; (e) pushing the barrier device through said lumen with a pushing tool until the barrier device reaches the distal end of the delivery catheter; and (f) withdrawing the delivery catheter in a proximal direction while holding the pushing tool stationary to thereby cause the barrier device to be released from the delivery catheter in, stages and self-expand in a manner such that the barrier device is placed between, and provides a structural barrier separating adjacent spinal cord nerves and the external compression at the external compression site; (g) prior to step (d) performing the steps of: (1) advancing a wire of a shape memory material having a loop at a distal end thereof through the lumen of the delivery catheter; (2) extending the loop beyond the distal end of the delivery catheter and about a protuberance on a posterior surface of a vertebral body; and (3) advancing the distal end of the delivery catheter cephalically while holding the wire stationary to thereby close the loop about the protuberance to sever the protuberance.