ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,544,093, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to Globus Medical Inc. (Audubon, Pa.).
"Powered discectomy apparatus" was invented by Mark Weiman (Downingtown, Pa.), Corbett McLaughlin (Philadelphia), Stephen Schilling (Conshohocken, Pa.), Myles Sullivan (Philadelphia) and Chad Glerum (Pennsburg, Pa.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for use in preparing the intervertebral disc space. The apparatus includes a powered disc cutter that can be inserted through a tube and into the disc space. Once inside the disc space, the cutter can be rotated on its axis and articulated through the disc space to break up and disconnect the disc tissue ...