Adjustable ligament anchor
AssigneeMedical University of South Carolina
InventorsFranklin A. Young, Jr., Yuehuei An
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides an adjustable ligament anchor for attaching a ligament to a bone. The ligament anchor comprises a housing having an exterior surface, an interior surface, an intra-articular end and an opposite extra-articular end. The interior surface defines a bore that extends longitudinally through the housing, joining the ends. A member is dimensioned to be received within the bore and having a first end and an opposite second end, wherein the ligament is attached to the first end. Adjusting means comprise a longitudinal chamber opening through the second end, and extending into at least a portion of the member. The chamber has threads and is dimensioned to receive a screw having a shaft with threads complimentary to threads in chamber.
Claims9
An adjustable ligament anchor for attaching a ligament to a bone using a ligament attaching means, comprising:
- (a) a housing having an exterior surface, an intra-articular end and an opposite extra-articular end and an interior surface defining a bore extending longitudinally through the housing, joining the ends;
- (b) a member dimensioned to be received within the bore and having a first end and an opposite second end;
- (c) a longitudinal chamber opening through the second end, and extending into a portion of the member, wherein the chamber is threaded;
- (d) a screw having a shaft with threads thereon being complimentary to the threads in the chamber, and having a head on one end of the shaft adjacent the extra-articular end of the housing, the head being formed of a portion of the shaft having a larger cross-sectional dimension than the shaft adjacent the head, wherein the largest cross-sectional dimension of the head is larger than the smallest cross-sectional dimension of the bore;
- and
- (e) means on the first end of the member for receiving the ligament attaching means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.