Spinal-column buttress plate assembly and method for attachment

Abstract

A spinal-column (e.g., cervical-column) buttress plate assembly and method for attaching together first and second vertebral bodies of a spinal column (e.g., cervical column) of a medical patient. Bone screws are inserted into the vertebral bodies at optimum locations on the vertebral bodies. A buttress plate having an elongated slot is placed on the vertebral bodies so that the heads of the bone screws are positioned in the elongated slot. Inner screws are threaded into the bone screws to expand their heads against the opposing edges of the elongated slot thereby attaching the buttress plate to the vertebral bodies.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to medical apparatus and procedures, and more particularly to apparatus and a method which attaches a spinal-column buttress plate to two vertebral bodies of a spinal column of a medical patient. [0002] Conventional medical procedures include attaching together (sometimes called fusing) first and second vertebral bodies of a spinal column (such as adjacent first and second cervical vertebral bodies of the cervical column portion of the spinal column) of a medical patient. A spinal-vertebral buttress plate (such as a cervical-vertebral buttress plate) of appropriate length is obtained. The buttress plate is positioned on the anterior side of the first and second vertebral bodies. The buttress plate comes with pre-drilled holes. Using first and second holes, of the positioned buttress plate, which are aligned over the first vertebral body, first and second starter holes are marked and drilled on the anterior co...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] Several benefits and advantages are derived from the invention. The apparatus and method of the invention allows a physician to choose an optimum location for the first bone screw on the first vertebral body (e.g., on the first cervical vertebral body) and to choose an optimum location for the second bone screw on the second vertebral body (e.g., on the second cervical vertebral body) for maximum attachment strength and mechanical stability. This is accomplished by first installing the bone screws on the vertebral bodies and then securing the buttress plate to the installed bone screws. In comparison, the prior art forces the physician to use pre-drilled holes in the buttress plate which often provide less than optimum attachment locations (providing less attachment strength and less mechanical stability) for the bone screws to be installed in the vertebral bodies.

Problems solved by technology

Attachment problems arise when the pre-drilled holes of the spinal-column buttress plate are only alignable over a non-optimum area of the first and / or second vertebral body.

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