Paragraph Number

144

At this stage, a surgeon may employ a variety of techniques to mark or preserve or denote the insertion trajectory. For example, the surgeon may strike the head of the surgical device 200c (with a hand, a hammer, and/or a mallet) to cause the bone probe 216 to penetrate the cortical surface of the vertebra 608. Or, the surgeon may press the surgical device 200c towards the vertebra 608 and cause the bone probe 216 to form a pilot hole in the pedicle. The pilot hole may then be used with other instruments (such as an electronic pedicle probe, or manual pedicle probe) to confirm the position of the pilot hole in the pedicle. The pilot hole may be tapped for a subsequent pedicle screw. In certain embodiments, a surgeon may press a pedicle probe through the pilot hole and into cancellous bone of the vertebra 608 to prepare the pedicle for a pedicle screw.

Added by DJM 1 2022