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AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsJoseph H. Contiliano, J. Jenny Yuan, Kevor S. Tenhuisen
Estimating the term…
An orthopedic screw with an internal bore and mating driver has a bioabsorbable polymer component. To increase the torque tolerance of the screw and to minimize the likelihood of the driver stripping inside the bore of the screw, the screw and driver are heat treated together to shrink fit the screw onto the driver thereby increasing the driver-to-screw contact and distributing the loading force over a greater area to protect against material failure. The heat treatment involves heating the screw to an elevated temperature and holding that temperature for a period to promote stress relaxation and/or crystallization of the material.
A medical screw and driver system, comprising:
A method for increasing driver-to-screw contact in a medical screw and driver system having an elongated screw formed at least partially from a bioabsorbable material and having external threads and an internal bore with a non-circular cross-sectional shape extending through the screw at least a portion of the length of the screw and an elongated driver having a non-circular cross-sectional shape approximating the cross-sectional shape of the bore, the driver insertable into the bore and being matingly received therein to transfer rotational motion of said driver to the screw, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.