Template assembly for facilitating the placement of interbody fusion devices

Patent Number: 6096044, issued on 2000/08/01    
Applied on 1998/07/07
Inventor(s): Lawrence M Boyd, Eddie Ray III, Thomas McGahan
Assignee: SDGI Holdings, Inc.

Abstract: A template assembly is provided for marking locations on the disc annulus for the implantation of an interbody fusion device or the introduction of a working instrument. The template assembly includes a tubular body sized for percutaneous introduction into a patient and advancement to an affected intervertebral disc. An elongated shaft slidably extends through the tubular body and is threadedly engaged to the handle-mounted thumb wheel so that rotation of the thumb wheel relative to the tubular body retracts the shaft through the body. A guide foot with a rotatable cam near the distal end of the tubular body is operable by the shaft and may be pivoted from a first position aligned with the tubular body to a second deployed position oriented transversely to the tubular body. The guide assembly has an electrocautery projection for marking locations on the disc annulus.