BONE PLATE WITH COMPLEX, ADJACENT HOLES JOINED BY A BEND RELIEF ZONE

• US 20090318921A1
• Filed: 07/06/2007
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Swiss Pro Orthopedic SA
• Original Assignee: Swiss Pro Orthopedic SA
• Inventors: White, Patrick, Berdoz, Patrick, Forbes, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 8,512,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/70
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1728 for holes for bone plates or plate screws
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/8057 the interlocking form comprising a thread
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/8085 with pliable or malleable elements or having a mesh-like structure, e.g. small strips A61B17/8071, A61B17/8076 take precedence

Abstract

A bendable bone plate (10) is disclosed which is adapted for use in situ as a conformable bone splint to fix the spatial relationship of at least two bone parts (80). The bone plate (10) has an elongated plate (11) made of a bendable material. A plurality of screw apertures (24) extending through the top (14) and bottom (16) surfaces are disposed along the length (L) of the plate. Bone screws (28) are inserted through the apertures into the underlying bone parts (80) to anchor the elongated plate (11) to the bone parts (80). At least two of the screw apertures (24) are disposed as a closely spaced pair (40) of screw apertures (24) with a “bend relief zone” (60) disposed between the closely spaced apart screw apertures (24). The bend relief zone (60) is disposed to allow the elongated plate (11) to be bent across the bend relief zone (60) up to a certain angle (A) without deforming the screw apertures (24) adjacent the bend relief zone (60)

Claims

1. A bone plate (10) adapted for use it, situ to fix a spatial relationship of at least two bone parts (80), the bone plate (10) comprising:

an elongated plate (11) having a plurality of screw apertures (24) through which bone screws (28) are insertable into an underlying bone part (80) to anchor the elongated plate (11) to the bone part (80);

at least two of the screw apertures (24) each having a threaded head seat (34) that has a partially threaded portion (24c, 34a) and being adjacent each other and in combination forming a complex aperture (40), characterized by having a center-to-center distance (d) between the two adjacent screw apertures (24) of the complex aperture (40) that is at least equal to a sum of the largest radii (r) of the screw apertures (24); and

a bend relief zone (60) disposed as an oblong relief (60a) or slot (60b) transverse to an axis (12) of the bone plate (10) between the adjacent screw apertures (24) of the complex aperture (40), into which bend relief zone (60) the radii (r) of the adjacent screw apertures (24) extend to allow the elongated plate (11) to be bent across the bend relief zone (60) to an angle (A) without deforming the threaded head seat (34) of the screw apertures (24) adjacent the bend relief zone (60) to enable the elongated plate (11) to fix the spatial relationship of the at least two bone parts (80).

2. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bone screw apertures (24) each have a largest aperture radius (r), and the closely spaced apart pair (40) of screw apertures (24) have a center-to-center distance (d) which is at least equal to or greater than the sum of the radii (r).

3. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bone screw apertures (24) each have a largest aperture radius (r),and the closely spaced apart pair (40) of screw apertures (24) have a center-to-center distance (d) which is at least equal to or greater than the sum of the two radii (r), and the radii (r) of the screw apertures (24) of the closely spaced apart aperture pair extend into the bend relief zone (60) of the complex aperture.

4. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bend relief zone (60) provides a point on the elongated plate (11) that allows the bone plate (10) to be controllably bent.

5. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bend relief zone (60) is disposed between two closely spaced apart screw apertures (24).

6. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bend relief zone (60) is disposed to enable the bone plate (10) to be bent by an angle (A) across the bend relief zone (60) without deforming the screw apertures (24) adjacent the bend relief zone (60).

7. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bend relief zone (60) extends at least half way through the width of the elongated plate (11) to localize deformation of the elongated plate (11) to the bend relief zone (60) and thereby protect the adjacent screw apertures (24) from deformation.

8. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the screw apertures (24) have a head-seat (34) that is a threaded head-seat (34a) or an unthreaded head-seat (34b) to respectively receive a bone screw (28) having a threaded-head (30a) or an unthreaded-head (30b).

9. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the closely spaced apart pair (40) of screw apertures (24) have a head-seat (34) that is a threaded head-seat (34a).

10. The bone plate (10) of claim 1, wherein the bend relief zone (60) is a relief configured in as shape selected from the group consisting of:

an oblong shaped relief (60a) and a slot shaped relief (60b).

11. The bone plate (10) of claim 10, wherein the relief of the bend relief zone (60) is a slot (60b) transverse to the axis (12) of the bone plate (10).

13. A method of installing a conformable bone plate (10) in situ to fix a spatial relationship of at least two bone parts (80) of a bone (78), the method comprising the steps of:

providing a conformable bone plate (10) of claim 1;

bending the bone plate (10) at a bend relief zone (60) to an angle (A) to match an angle of a bone surface feature of the bone (25) to which the bone plate (10) is to conform;

positioning the bone plate (10) over the bone (78) with the bent bend relief zone (61) positioned over the bone surface feature to which it conforms; and

Installing a bone screw (28) least one screw aperture (24) adjacent the bend relief zone (60) to anchor the bone plate to one of the bone parts (80) and at least one additional bone screw (28) in another of the bone parts (80) to fix the spatial relationship between the two bone parts (80).

14. An orthopedic kit (100) comprising:

a compartmented container (102) having compartment spaces (104) for receiving items (106) to be contained in the kit (100);

a first item (106) of the kit (100) being at least one bone plate (10) of claim 1; and

a second item (106) of the kit (100) being a plurality of bone screws (28).

15. The kit (100) of claim 14, further comprising a drill guide (110) having a hollow bore (114) through to opposite guide ends (112, 116), a first guide end (112) configured to securely engage a multi-faceted screw aperture (24) on the bone plate 10 so as to serves as a guide for a drill bit for use to drill a pilot hole in the bone for a bone screw (28) that is to be inserted into a bone through the screw aperture (24).

12. A bone plate (10) adapted for use in situ as a bone splint to fix the spatial relationship of at least two bone parts (80), the bone plate (10) comprising:

an elongated plate (11) made of a bendable material and having an axis (12) along a length (L) and a width (W) perpendicular to the axis (12), and having a top surface (14) and a bottom surface (16) disposed to interface with the, bone fragments (80);

a plurality of screw apertures (24) each having a threaded head seat (34) that has a partially threaded portion (24c, 34a), the screw apertures (24) extending through the top (14) and bottom (16) surfaces and disposed in a series along the length (L), the screw apertures (24) being bone screw guides through which bone screws (28) are inserted into an underlying bone parts (80) to anchor the elongated plate (11) to the at least two fragments (80), and at least two of the screw apertures (24) being a closely spaced apart pair (40);

each screw aperture (24) having a screw axis (26) at an angle relative to a plane of the elongated plate (11) in the vicinity of the screw aperture (24); and

a bend relief zone (60) disposed as an oblong relief (60a) or slot (60b) transverse to an axis (12) of the bone plate (10) between the closely spaced apart pair (40) of screw apertures (24), into which bend relief zone (60) the radii (r) of the adjacent screw apertures (24) extend, the bend relief zone (60) disposed to allow the elongated plate (11) to be bent by an angle (A) across the bend relief zone (60) without deforming the partially threaded portion (24c, 34a) of the screw apertures (24) adjacent the bend relief zone (60).