Indiana Spine Group

Congratulations to Rick Sasso, MD, a spine surgeon with Indiana Spine Group, who was just awarded his eighth patent! This is patent number 7,727,266 for a method and apparatus for retaining screws in a plate.

This patent is for an anterior cervical plate, now called Venture. This plate is used in spine surgery for patients suffering from a herniated disc or stenosis (disc degeneration), or after trauma, tumors or other conditions causing neck instability. The plate is used to stabilize the cervical spine after removing the disc.

Below is an abstract of this patent:

A retention system for maintaining a screw to a vertebral plate. One or more screws extend through apertures within the vertebral plate. A cavity is positioned adjacent to and overlaps into the aperture. A ring is positioned within the cavity and held in position by a cap. The cap attaches to the plate to prevent removal of the ring. The ring is deflectable between a first shape to allow the screw to be inserted and removed from the aperture, and a second shape to prevent screw back-out from the aperture. A method of using the system is also included and comprises positioning the ring within a cavity in the plate, maintaining the position of the ring to the plate by attaching a cap, inserting a screw through the aperture and attaching the plate to a vertebral member, and positioning the ring over the screw head and preventing the screw from backing-out.

For complete patent information, visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.