Expandable spinal fusion cage and associated instrumentation

Abstract

An expandable spinal implant comprising a cage body including at least two movable branches having first end portions that are interconnected to one another and second end portions that are movable relative to one another. The movable branches include a first shell portion having a first pair of longitudinal edges and defining a first hollow region therebetween, and a second shell portion having a second pair of longitudinal edges and defining a second hollow region therebetween, with the first and second hollow regions cooperating to define at least a portion of a hollow interior of the cage body. An expansion member co-acts with the first and second shell portions to transition the cage body to an expanded configuration as the expansion member is axially displaced along said first and second pairs of longitudinal edges. In one embodiment, at least one of the shell portions defines a plurality of retention elements positioned at select axial locations along a corresponding one of the longitudinal edges, with the expansion member engaged with one or more of the retention elements to retain the expansion member at a select axial position to maintain the implant in the expanded configuration.