Patent ID: 7985179

Claim:
An access retractor for enlarging an incision in a retraction procedure, the retractor comprising: a first set of opposing tissue engaging members that retract in outwardly opposing directions along a first axis; a second set of opposing tissue engaging members that retract in outwardly opposite directions along a second axis transverse to the first axis; a predetermined width of each of the second set of tissue engaging members that is greater than a predetermined width of each of the first set of tissue engaging members so that the first set of tissue engaging members are narrow tissue engaging members and the second set of tissue engaging members are wide tissue engaging members; operating mechanisms of the first and second set of tissue engaging members that allow for the first set of narrow tissue engaging members to be retracted in an initial stage of the retraction procedure and the second set of wide tissue engaging members to be retracted in a subsequent stage of the retraction procedure; slider members of the operating mechanisms associated with the first narrow set of tissue engaging members; a slide connection between each of the slider members and the first narrow set of tissue engaging members to allow the narrow tissue engaging members to slide onto the slider members, the slide connections being configured to fix the narrow tissue engaging members against rotation relative to the associated slider member and maintain the narrow tissue engaging members in a generally parallel orientation to one another while the narrow tissue engaging members are connected to the slider members; a slide connection between the wide tissue engaging members and the associated operating mechanisms configured to allow the wide tissue engaging members to be slid on and off of the associated operating mechanisms so that the wide tissue engaging members can be slid onto the associated operating mechanisms after the narrow tissue engaging members have retracted in the initial stage of the retraction procedure; and locking mechanisms for selectively locking the wide tissue engaging members relative to the associated operating mechanisms.