Patent 7628815 was granted and assigned to Synthes on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention relates to an anchor piece for fixing an intervertebral implant (15) to the end plate of a vertebra body (19;20), comprising A) an anchor piece (1), with a central axis (6) and two end faces (4, 5) transverse to the central axis (6), B) at least two spikes (7) extending from one of the end faces (4;5), parallel to the central axis (6) and which may be pushed into an end plate of a vertebral body (19;20), whereby B) the anchor piece (1) has a cavity (3) extending through the anchor piece (1) in the direction of the central axis (6) and C) the anchor piece (1) comprises fixing means (9), by means of which the anchor piece may be detachably locked to an intervertebral implant (15).