Abstract: A method and apparatus for creating safer and less intrusive surgical channels or pathways is provided. The dilatory apparatus includes a guide wire, two or more cannulated dilators, and a guide tube. The guide wire is inserted into the patient through a small skin incision. A cannulated dilator is inserted over the guide wire. Additional cannulated dilator(s) of increasing internal diameter(s) are inserted over the previously inserted dilator(s). When the desirable external diameter is reached, the guide tube is inserted over the outermost dilator. The dilators can now be removed to create a guided pathway formed by the guide tube. In one application, lumbar spinal surgery, a pair of diagonally aligned cavities is drilled in a spinal disc space using the guided pathways. A pair of vertebrae fusion cages can then be inserted the respective cavities, allowing the vertebrae to fuse together over time.