| 主权项 |
1. A plate adapted to be applied to the anterior human cervical spine for contacting the anterior aspects of at least two adjacent cervical vertebral bodies to be fused together, said plate comprising:
a longitudinal axis; a first plate segment adapted to be attached to one of the adjacent vertebral bodies to be fused and a second plate segment adapted to be attached to another one of the adjacent vertebral bodies to be fused, said first plate segment having an interior with an upper surface, a lower surface opposite said upper surface, and opposed side surfaces, said first plate segment being adapted to slideably receive a portion of said second plate segment into said interior of said first plate segment to form said plate; a bottom surface adapted to contact the cervical vertebral bodies, said bottom surface being concave at least in part along at least a portion of the longitudinal axis of said plate; at least one bone screw hole in each of said first and second plate segments, said at least one bone screw hole being adapted to receive at least one bone screw for engaging the cervical vertebral body to attach said plate to the cervical spine; said first and second plate segments being configured to couple together in cooperative relationship so as to facilitate movement of said first and second plate segments in a direction toward one another along the longitudinal axis of said plate and to resist movement of said first and said second plate segments in a direction away from one another along the longitudinal axis of said plate, said first and second plate segments when attached to the adjacent vertebral bodies, respectively, being adapted to move toward one another in response to movement of the adjacent vertebral bodies toward each other. |
