US Patent Issued to Spinal Elements on Sept. 1 for "Retractor" (California, Tennessee, New York, Colorado Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 -- United States Patent no. 12,721,613, issued on Sept. 1, was assigned to Spinal Elements Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.).

"Retractor" was invented by Stephen Vidmar (Carlsbad, Calif.), Evan Ackema (Oceanside, Calif.), Darren Reimers (Carlsbad, Calif.), David Ortiz (Carlsbad, Calif.), Kellen Van Ausdal (Franklin, Tenn.), Ricardo Simmons (San Diego), Abhishek Kumar (New York), Douglas Crowther (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Sandeep Kunwar (Woodside, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A retractor for use in surgical operations can include a first blade assembly comprising a first blade, a first actuator configured to translate the first blade along a first translation direct...