Filing Information

Inventor(s)	John K. Wilhelmy ·
Assignee(s)	Danek Medical, Inc. ·  View assignee updates
Attorney/Agent(s)	John J. Leavitt ·
Primary Examiner	Michael Buiz ·
Assistant Examiner	David O. Reip ·
Application Number	US8590612
Filing date	01/24/1996
Issue date	03/03/1998
Predicted expiration date	01/24/2016
U.S. Classifications	606/84  · 606/61  ·
International Classifications	A61B 1716  ·
Kind Code	A
International Classifications	60679;84;87 ·

Patent Family

Abstract

Presented is a method and instrumentation for removal of a pair of rectangular blocks of vertebral bone tissue of predetermined and precise dimensions to provide an intervertebral recess, with guarded depth for safety, achieving and maintaining the desired intervertebral space, as well as obtaining and injecting into the intervertebral recess a well-fitted bone plug of the same dimension as the recess that receives it. Two cooperating instruments are utilized in the invention, one being an intervertebral mortising cutter and the other a precision guide and spacer. The guide and spacer functions dually to retain the associated adjacent vertebrae at a precise selected and predetermined spacing and to guide penetration of the mortising cutter. Following advancement of the mortising cutter into the bone tissue of the two adjacent vertebrae, the instruments, along with the blocks of bone tissue, are removed from the site to produce a precisely configured recess. The mortising cutter is then used to harvest a bone plug from a suitable donor site, with the bone plug being subsequently inserted into the prepared vertebral recess to thus promote fusion between the bone plug and the associated surfaces of the vertebrae.

Independent Claims | See all claims (16)

1. 1. In combination, a non-rotatable precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven progressively into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively progressively increase the spacing between opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed spaced vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween.
2. 4. A precision guide and spacer instrument for use in separating a pair of juxtaposed vertebrae and for guiding the penetration of an osteotome into said vertebrae to form opposed recesses therein, comprising:a) a head including a portion adapted to be driven between said pair of juxtaposed vertebrae:b) a posterior base portion integral with said head and forming a flange thereabout adapted to abut associated surfaces of said vertebrae to limit penetration of said head portion between said pair of juxtaposed vertebrae: andc) a handle secured to said head and extending posteriorly therefrom and adapted to be impacted to drive said head between said vertebrae.
3. 8. The method of forming opposed recesses of equal size and configuration in the opposed inferior and superior surfaces of a pair of juxtaposed vertebrae, comprising the steps of:a) surgically exposing the anterior surfaces of a pair of juxtaposed vertebrae:b) driving a precision guide and spacer instrument anteriorly into the intervertebral space between said inferior and superior surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae to separate said vertebrae a predetermined amount:c) abutting a guide portion of said precision guide and spacer instrument against the anterior surfaces of said spaced vertebrae whereby said guide portion equally overlaps anterior surface portions of said spaced vertebrae:d) superimposing a quadrilateral tubular osteotome circumscribingly about the guide portion of said precision guide and spacer instrument in abutting relation to the anterior surfaces of said spaced vertebrae so that said tubular osteotome overlaps equal anterior portions of said spaced vertebrae:e) driving said tubular osteotome into said anterior surfaces of said spaced vertebrae to a predetermined depth to cut away equal portions of said inferior and superior surfaces from said spaced vertebrae on opposite sides of said intervertebral space to thereby define said opposed recesses: andf) subsequently extracting said precision guide and spacer instrument, said tubular osteotome and said cut away equal portions of said juxtaposed vertebrae to thereby form said opposed recesses of equal size and configuration.
4. 10. In combination, a precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively space opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween, said precision guide and spacer means including a posterior base portion and a tapered wedge portion.
5. 13. In combination, a non-rotatable precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively space opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween, said precision guide and spacer means including guide means for guiding the penetration of said osteotome into said vertebrae and including a quadrilateral base portion having an exterior periphery dimensioned to be slidably circumscribed by said quadrilateral tubular osteotome.
6. 14. In combination, a precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively space opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween, said quadrilateral tubular osteotome being open at one end and closed at its other end, said open end having edges sharpened sufficiently to penetrate bone tissue when driven thereagainst and being spaced a predetermined distance from said closed end, said precision guide and spacer means comprising an instrument having a head shorter by a predetermined distance than the distance between said open and closed ends of said osteotome, whereby the difference in length of said precision guide spacer means compared to said osteotome constitutes the depth to which said osteotome will penetrate said vertebrae when driven thereagainst.
7. 15. In combination, a non-rotatable precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively space opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween, said precision guide and spacer means including guide means for guiding the penetration of said osteotome into said vertebrae, and including stop means controlling the maximum depth to which said precision guide and spacer means penetrates said intervertebral space.
8. 16.16. In combination, a non-rotatable precision guide and spacer means adapted to be driven into an intervertebral space between two juxtaposed vertebrae of a spine to selectively space opposed surfaces of said juxtaposed vertebrae a predetermined amount, and a quadrilateral tubular osteotome surrounding a portion of said precision guide and spacer means and manipulable to simultaneously cut opposed recesses in the juxtaposed vertebrae while spanning the intervertebral space therebetween, said precision guide and spacer means including guide means for guiding the penetration of said osteotome into said vertebrae, and including stop means controlling the maximum depth to which said osteotome penetrates said vertebrae when driven thereagainst.