Patent ID: 8579976

Claim:
A surgical implant for the fusion of vertebral bodies using a transforaminal approach, comprising: a body with a curved profile designed to be implanted between vertebral plates of two adjacent vertebrae, wherein the body comprises: (i) a posterior manipulation end comprising a half-ring, and (ii) an anterior leading end having a lower tongue and an upper tongue that extend from upper and lower ends of the posterior manipulation end, such that the tongues are connected to each other at the posterior manipulation end by a connection portion integral with both the lower tongue and the upper tongue; and an expanding element, disposed between the lower and upper tongues, configured to slide between an insertion position in which the expanding element is situated near the posterior manipulation end while tips of the tongues are next to each other, and an expanded position in which the expanding element is situated near the anterior leading end, thus increasing a distance between the tongues by forcing the tongues apart, the expanding element comprising an open section that is open at a top and bottom portion thereof and that is designed to receive bone graft material in the insertion position and to bring the bone graft material into an anterior part of the vertebral plates in the expanded position, the expanding element comprising two transversal partitions that define the open section configured to receive the bone graft material, the height of the partitions being equal to that of the implant in the expanded position and their width being that of a central opening in each of the tongues.