ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,653,517, issued on June 16.
"Lateral retractor system for minimizing muscle damage in spinal surgery" was invented by Edward Rustamzadeh (San Jose, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A lateral retractor system for forming a pathway to a patient's intervertebral disc space includes a single dilator and a retractable dual-tapered-blade assembly. The dilator may feature a narrow rectangular body for insertion at an insertion orientation parallel to the fibers of the patient's psoas muscle, at an approximate 45-degree angle to the patient's spine. The retractable dual-tapered-blade assembly consists of only two blade subassemblies, each h...