Locking bone screws and methods of use thereof
AssigneeGlobus Medical, Inc.
InventorsMichael Black, Jon Suh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention encompasses a bone screw for use in the human body including a shaft having a threaded region along at least a portion of its length and a screw head including a locking mechanism to secure the screw, for example to a bone plate. In certain embodiments, the thread has an outer diameter dimensioned to pass through the screw hole in the implant. The screw head is configured to cooperatively engage at least a portion of the screw hole of the implant so as to prevent the screw from coming out of the implant and avoided soft tissue damage and other complications associated with unintended screw removal.
Claims14
A locking bone screw assembly comprising:
- a head portion and a shaft portion adapted to be secured to a bone,
- wherein the head portion comprises an inner head portion enclosing a driver opening, the inner head portion having outward surfaces, and four flexible elements extending radially outward from the inner head portion, the four flexible elements for engaging an inner surface of a hole in a bone plate in a locking arrangement such that the flexible elements are capable of resiliently deflecting to decrease the outer diameter of the head portion during insertion of the locking bone screw into the hole in the bone plate and are capable of returning back to an initial position to allow the head portion to lock to the bone plate;
- wherein the head portion further comprises a locking insert with four inward surfaces associated with each of the four flexible elements, wherein the four flexible elements are configured to deflect inwardly toward the four inward surfaces;
- wherein a gap is configured between each one of the four inward surfaces and a corresponding one of the outward surfaces of the inner head portion when the locking insert is in an unlocked position;
- and wherein the locking insert has clips that snap into the head portion when the locking insert moves from the unlocked position to a locked position.
A locking bone screw assembly comprising:
- a head portion and a shaft portion adapted to be secured to a bone, wherein the head portion comprises an inner head portion enclosing a driver opening, the inner head portion having outward surfaces, and four flexible elements extending radially outward from the inner head portion, the four flexible elements for engaging an inner surface of a hole in a bone plate in a locking arrangement such that the flexible elements are capable of resiliently deflecting to decrease the outer diameter of the head portion during insertion of the locking bone screw into the hole in the bone plate and are capable of returning back to an initial position to allow the head portion to lock to the bone plate, wherein the head portion further comprises a locking insert with a plurality of arms, each arm defining a clip, wherein the clips snap into the head portion when the locking insert moves from an unlocked position to a locked position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.