Patent ID: 8070819

Claim:
A fixation comprising: a housing with a leading deep surface, a trailing outer surface, weight bearing sides, and top and bottom surfaces; a shaft, having an axis, running from a center of the leading deep surface to a center of the trailing outer surface of the housing; and plurality of blades preloaded onto the shaft in the housing, at least one first blade having at least one cutting extension in a first orientation about the axis of the shaft and at least one second blade having at least one cutting extension in a second orientation about the axis of the shaft that is opposite to the first orientation, each cutting extension having a sharp leading edge, wherein upon clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of each blade of the plurality of blades about the axis of the shaft in a direction in which the at least one cutting extension of each blade is oriented, the at least one cutting extension of each blade will break an endplate of a vertebra, hook into the vertebra and rigidly secure the vertebra to the device to prevent separation of the vertebra from the device during spinal motion.