Patent 7632278 was granted and assigned to Alphatec Spine on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention relates to spinal fusion implants or grafts and to apparatus for the installation thereof. More specifically, the invention is a serrated cutting or abrading tool designed to be pushed into an intervertebral space and thereby remove and partially penetrate the cortical bone layer that defines the endplates of the respective mutually adjacent vertebral bodies.