Patent ID: 7883543

Claim:
A spinal implant system for replacing a damaged vertebra in a spinal fusion procedure, comprising: a vertebral prosthesis adapted to be placed at the site of an excised vertebra between two adjacent vertebrae, the vertebral prosthesis comprising a shaft having two ends and an endplate at each end, wherein the shaft is rigid and the endplates are locked to the shaft to create a rigid structure suitable for a spinal fusion procedure in which the vertebrae adjacent to the vertebral prosthesis are fused together with the vertebral prosthesis as one rigid structure; a bone screw; an anchor extending from at least one of the endplates wherein the anchor is positioned on the endplate such that it is configured to extend into one of the adjacent vertebrae; and a spinal fixation device coupled to the prosthesis by the bone screw, wherein the bone screw is adapted to extend through at least a portion of one of the adjacent vertebrae; wherein the anchor comprises a body portion and an aperture configured to receive the bone screw when within the adjacent vertebra, and further wherein the aperture is threaded.