| 摘要 |
A middle expanded, removable disk implant (22) with substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape with a minimal height (H) and a width (W) greater than the height which is detachably mounted to an applicator (52) for insertion into the anatomical region between two adjacent vertebrae (16, 18) from which a portion of the intervertebral disk has been removed. The implant is positioned by anterior-posterior movement in the disk space to the position in which both the expanded middle portion and the smaller diameter end (25, 36) portions of the implant engage the bodies (12, 14) of the adjacent vertebrae and then rotated to bring the sides (34) of the implant defining the height of the implant into engagement with the bodies of the adjacent vertebrae. A lock (24) is then secured to the implant to prevent further rotation thereof. In the event the adjacent vertebrae need to be aligned before fusion, an elongate implant (112) is provided which is split longitudinally into side-by-side members (113, 114) movable relative to each other and which is inserted into the disk space between two misaligned vertebrae (133, 137). The members are provided with teeth (138) for engaging the adjacent vertebrae and the implant formed by the two side-by-side members is rectangularly-shaped in cross section, the height (H6) of the rectangularly-shaped cross section being less than the width (W6) so that the implant can be inserted between the adjacent vertebrae with the lesser, height dimension oriented in the same direction as the axis of the spinal column and the larger width dimension at approximately a right angle to that axis. One member is then moved relative to the other from the first side-by-side position along the longitudinal axis of the implant to a second position in which the members are aligned with the respective, adjacent, misaligned vertebrae and the implant is rotated 90 DEG to engage the teeth to the bodies of the adjacent vertebrae. The two members are then brought back into the first side-by-side position to draw the vertebrae into alignment and the implant is rotated approximately 90 DEG to disengage the teeth from the vertebrae for removal from the disk space. |
