Flexible bone screw
AssigneeSyntorr, Inc.
InventorDaniel L. MARTIN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flexible bone screw for insertion into the intramedullary cavity of a fractured bone facilitates enduring fixation of the fracture. The flexible bone screw includes a substantially smooth shaft and a threaded portion positioned at one end of the shaft, wherein the outer diameter of the threaded portion is greater than the shaft diameter and the length of the threaded portion is about 20% of the overall length of the flexible bone screw or less.
Claims20
A method for repairing a bone fracture, comprising the steps of:
- drilling a hole through a cortex of the bone to expose an intramedullary cavity of the bone;
- inserting a flexible bone screw through the hole into the intramedullary cavity of the bone, the flexible bone screw having an elongated shaft and a threaded portion at a leading end thereof;
- and
- advancing the bone screw into the intramedullary cavity of the bone with associated elastic bending of the shaft,
- wherein the threaded portion has an outer diameter that is larger than a diameter of the shaft, and a ratio of the length of the threaded portion to a length of the flexible bone screw is about 0.2 or less and a ratio of the length of the flexible bone screw to a diameter of the shaft is at least 50, and
- wherein the shaft has a non-threaded surface between the threaded portion and a trailing end of the flexible bone screw.
A method for repairing a bone fracture, comprising the steps of:
- drilling a hole through a cortex of the bone to expose an intramedullary cavity of the bone;
- inserting a flexible bone screw through the hole into the intramedullary cavity of the bone, the flexible bone screw having a tool engagement portion at a trailing end thereof, a threaded portion at a leading end thereof, and an elongated shaft between the trailing end and the leading end;
- and
- advancing the bone screw into the intramedullary cavity of the bone with associated elastic bending of the shaft,
- wherein a ratio of a length of the flexible bone screw to a diameter of the shaft is at least 50;
- the tool engagement portion has a diameter that is substantially the same or less than the diameter of the shaft;
- the threaded portion has an outer diameter that is larger than the diameter of the shaft;
- a ratio of the length of the threaded portion to the length of the flexible bone screw is about 0.2 or less;
- and a surface of the elongated shaft is substantially smooth.
A method for repairing a bone fracture, comprising the steps of:
- inserting a flexible bone screw retrograde into a curved screw guide;
- inserting the curved screw guide having the flexible bone screw resting therein, into an intramedullary cavity of the bone;
- rotating the flexible bone screw to connect the flexible bone screw to a portion of the bone;
- and
- removing the curved screw guide from the intramedullary cavity after connecting the flexible bone screw to the portion of the bone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.