Aiming Arm for Bone Plates

An aiming guide for aligning at least one surgical tool with a hole in a bone plate, comprising:

• an arm portion having a longitudinal axis, top and bottom surfaces, and first and second ends, and at least one bore extending through the arm portion from the top surface to the bottom surface, wherein an axis defined by the at least one bore is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the arm portion;
• a tool guide having a longitudinal axis and a channel in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the tool guide, wherein the tool guide is configured and adapted for insertion through the arm portion to a first target location of the bone plate;
• and
• a handle attached to the first end of the arm portion at a first end and to the bone plate at a second end, the handle coupling to the bone plate only in a predetermined alignment relative thereto, the predetermined alignment of the handle determining an aiming alignment of the arm portion in which the at least one bore of the arm portion is aligned with a corresponding hole in the bone plate.

An aiming guide for aligning at least one surgical tool with a hole in a bone plate comprising:

• an arm portion having a longitudinal axis, top and bottom surfaces, two side surfaces, and first and second ends, wherein the arm portion is curved along at least a portion of its side surfaces, and at least one bore extending through the arm portion from the top surface to the bottom surface;
• and
• a tool guide having a longitudinal axis and a channel in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the tool guide,
• wherein the bore and tool guide are configured and adapted such that the tool guide is received in the bore in at least two different preset positions which locates the channel in at least two different hole positions, a first preset position being rotated 180° from a second preset position.

A method of aligning a surgical tool with a bone plate hole, comprising the steps of:

• providing an aiming arm guide system, comprising:
• an arm portion having a longitudinal axis, top and bottom surfaces, and first and second ends, and at least one bore extending through the arm portion from the top surface to the bottom surface;
• and
• a tool guide having a longitudinal axis and a channel in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the tool guide,
• wherein the bore and tool guide are configured and adapted such that the tool guide is received in the bore in at least two different preset positions which locates the channel in at least two different hole positions;
• attaching the aiming arm to a bone plate;
• and
• inserting at least one tool guide within said bore in one of the at least two preset, rotationally-fixed positions to align the guide sleeve with one of at least two different positions in the bone plate hole.