Patent ID: 8221502

Claim:
A surgical method, comprising: providing an expandable spinal implant including a fixed base portion and four movable portions extending from the fixed base portion along a longitudinal axis and formed integral with the fixed base portion to define a unitary, single-piece implant body, each of the four movable portions having a substantially equal size and defining a rectangular-shaped cross section, the four movable portions cooperating to provide the implant body with an outer cross section having a first transverse dimension and a second transverse dimension, the movable portions defining first and second substantially planar surfaces disposed generally opposite one another; inserting the implant body within an intervertebral space and positioning the first and second substantially planar surfaces adjacent respective first and second vertebral bodies; and expanding the outer cross section of the implant body along each of the first and second transverse dimensions and engaging the first and second substantially planar surfaces against the respective first and second vertebral bodies, the expanding including flexible material deformation of the movable branch portions relative to the fixed base portion.