Bone connector with pivotable joint
AssigneeAcumed LLC
InventorsMatthew C. Sucec, Thomas C. Tuller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
System, including methods, apparatus, and kits, for connecting bones and/or bone portions using a bone connector with a pivotable joint.
Claims20
A bone screw, comprising:
- a first screw element and a second screw element each including an external thread for threaded engagement with bone, the screw elements being connected by a pivotable joint that traps a cylindrical protuberance of the first screw element in a cylindrical cavity of the second screw element to block removal of the cylindrical protuberance from the cylindrical cavity,
- wherein the cylindrical protuberance and the cylindrical cavity are formed by a leading end region of one of the screw elements and a trailing end region of the other screw element, and
- wherein the cylindrical protuberance is movable in the cylindrical cavity to permit (a) the screw elements to be twisted relative to one another about a longitudinal axis defined by one of the screw elements and (b) the bone screw to be bent about a transverse axis of the bone screw and to an angle of at least about 5 degrees from a coaxial arrangement of the screw elements.
A method of connecting bones with a pair of screw elements connected by a pivotable joint that traps a cylindrical protuberance of one of the screw elements in a cylindrical cavity of the other screw element to block removal of the cylindrical protuberance from the cylindrical cavity, with the cylindrical protuberance and the cylindrical cavity being formed by a leading end region of a first of the screw elements and a trailing end region of a second of the screw elements, the cylindrical protuberance being movable in the cylindrical cavity to permit (a) the screw elements to be twisted relative to one another about a longitudinal axis defined by one of the screw elements and (b) the bone screw to be bent about a transverse axis of the bone screw and to an angle of at least about 5 degrees from a coaxial arrangement of the screw elements, the method comprising:
- driving the bone screw into a pair of bones such that an external thread of each screw element is disposed in threaded engagement with a different bone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.