Patent ID: 8032204

Claim:
A fiducial marker member locatable by an imaging system, comprising: a unitary fiducial marker having an imageable fiducial location head and a shaft extending directly outward from the imageable fiducial location head; wherein the imageable fiducial location head is substantially spherical and has a receptacle wall that defines a conical receptacle extending from a cut out opening in the imageable fiducial location head to an apex corresponding to a centroid of the imageable fiducial location head, wherein the cut out opening is sized and shaped for allowing a locator instrument of a positioning system to enter and engage the apex of the conical receptacle, wherein the receptacle wall is substantially straight from the cut out opening to the apex of the conical receptacle, wherein at least a portion of the shaft defines a structure operable to be directly secured to a bone, wherein the shaft includes a laterally expandable distal tip and defines a passage extending from the receptacle into the shaft; and a member configured to expand the laterally expandable distal tip as the member is moved within the passage in the shaft and toward the distal tip.