A surgical instrument for applying a rotational force to a structural element during a surgical procedure. The instrument may be designed for increasing an input force to produce an enlarged output force adequate for fracturing an excess section of the elongated element from a remainder of the structural element. The instrument may include an input mechanism that receives an external rotational input force, a planetary gear system that multiples the input force, and an output mechanism that attaches to and delivers the multiplied rotational output force to the excess section of the structural element. The output mechanism may also be configured to capture the separated excess section. The instrument may include a housing and a handle for grasping and manipulating during the surgical procedure.

A method of promoting healing of a fracture of a human humerus using a proximal humeral fracture plate.

An orthopedic implant screw driver includes drive shaft. A first gear is operably coupled to the drive shaft and in meshing engagement with a hollow gear which rotates in response to rotation of the drive shaft. The hollow gear includes a passage defining an inwardly facing screw engagement periphery configured to receive and drivingly rotate a threaded portion of the screw. A method of securing an orthopedic implant to a bone includes positioning a screw within the passage which is configured to drivingly engage a threaded portion of the screw and rotating a drive shaft in driving engagement with the gear causing the gear to engage the screw along the threaded portion of the screw and rotatably drive the screw via the threaded portion.

Various forms of a cable fixation device, instrumentation, kit, and methods useful for repairing the skeletal system are introduced. The system utilizes a clamp housing fixing a head end of a surgical cable therein. In an operative configuration the cable is looped around a damaged bone segment and reentered through a lock aperture in the clamp housing then through a multi-part collet and lock cap residing within a lock aperture. The cable loop and each aforementioned component comprise a central axis aligned within a single plane. A sliding interface situated between the lock cap and collet prevent twisting of the surgical cable. The locking mechanism is non-destructive to the cable despite repeated unlocking and relocking of the fixation device. The axis for tensioning of the cable is coincident with the locking axis. A cerclage inserter instrument is disclosed.

A system for implanting a bone screw into a vertebra of a vertebral column of a patient to help secure an implant within a joint between the vertebra and an adjacent vertebra may include a bone screw, a bone screw delivery mechanism detachably connected to the bone screw, and a guide tube. The guide tube may have a proximal end, a distal end, a lumen configured to receive the bone screw and the bone screw delivery mechanism, and at least one bend disposed nearer the distal end than the proximal end. The bend in the guide tube may change a trajectory of the bone screw and the bone screw delivery mechanism advancing through the lumen from a first trajectory along a longitudinal axis of the guide tube to a second trajectory that is angled relative to the longitudinal axis.

A pedicle anchor device is equipped for being used like a pedicle screw, i.e. for being implanted in the vertebra from dorsal direction (but generally at an angle to the sagittal plane, slightly inward towards the sagittal plane) through the pedicle so that a distal portion of the device protrudes into the vertebral body. The pedicle anchor device includes a pedicle anchor device body with a head portion, a shaft portion and a longitudinal bore that extends from a proximal end of the pedicle anchor device body and has a hole or a plurality of holes from the longitudinal bore outward, for example radially outward.

Bone plate systems are provided for surgical implants and bone repair. The bone plate is multi-tiered for receiving bone anchors screws for securing a plurality of bones or bone fragments in a desired relationship. The plate members include throughbores for receiving a pivot base therein, with head ends of the bone anchors being secured in the pivot bases. The throughbores may permit and define a translation path for the pivot base and the bone anchor secured therein relative to the plate. Pivot members extending between the pivot base and the plate member facilitate pivoting and optional translation of the pivot base relative to the plate. With the bone anchor seated within the pivot base, an apparatus for inhibiting screw back out is employed.

A self-drilling bone fusion screw apparatus is disclosed which includes at least first and second sliding boxes. A first screw member having a tapered end and a threaded body is disposed within the first sliding box, and a second screw member having a tapered end and a threaded body disposed within the second sliding box. An adjuster adjusts the height of the sliding boxes. The screw members are screwed into vertebral bodies in order to fuse the vertebral bodies together. A plurality of the self-drilling bone fusion screw apparatuses may be attached together and/or integrated via a plate or cage. Also disclosed is a cervical facet staple that includes a curved staple base and at least two prongs attached to the bottom surface of the curved staple base.

A tool body having a first clamp element positioned on a first tool arm and a drill guide positioned on a second tool arm. The surgical tool can also have a slider element slidable on the tool body, the slider element having a depth probe and a second clamp element. The second clamp element can be engaged with the first clamp element such that the first and second elements cooperate to define a clamp opening for receiving a supplemental screw.

An intervertebral expandable implant with first and second vertebral body engagement surfaces includes first and second implant structures defining first and second angled wedge portions. The first angled wedge portion has first and second inwardly-facing rails and first and second inwardly-facing slots. The second angled wedge portion has first and second outwardly-facing rails and first and second outwardly facing slots. The first implant structure is slidably-engaged with the second implant structure with the first inwardly-facing rail positioned in the first outwardly-facing slot, the second inwardly-facing rail positioned in the second outwardly facing slot, the first outwardly-facing rail positioned in the first inwardly-facing slot, and the second outwardly-facing rail positioned in the second inwardly-facing slot.