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Publication Number
US-12285199-B2
Publication Date
2025-04-29
Expiration Date
Abstract
A bone rivet is provided that may be used as an alternative to a bone screw for bone fixation. The bone rivet includes a head and a threaded shaft that can be expanded upon installing the bone rivet into bone. A channel extends through the bone rivet and is shaped corresponding to a bulb of a mandrel used for installing the bone rivet. A first section of the channel has a smaller width than the mandrel's bulb to enable the bulb to expand the threaded shaft and a second section is sized to have a greater width. The installation process eliminates the task of rotating a typical bone screw during its installation. The threaded shaft also includes a cutting flute, which cuts a thread path for the threaded shaft into the bone thereby reducing the amount of torque needed to rotate and remove the bone rivet from bone.
Core Innovation
The disclosed invention is a surgical bone rivet and a bone rivet installation system in which a portion of a threaded shaft is deformable such that a width of the portion of the threaded shaft after deformation is greater than a width of the threaded shaft prior to deformation. The body portion is constructed of a material so that the portion of the threaded shaft deforms upon forced expansion and subsequently maintains that deformation.
The bone rivet body portion includes a head and a channel extending through the body portion. The channel includes a first portion and a second portion, with the first portion having a greater width than the second portion, and the first portion extending through the head. The channel geometry cooperates with a mandrel to expand the threaded shaft through the narrower second portion.
The threaded shaft includes a cutting flute extending along a full length of the portion of the threaded shaft that is deformable. In the installation system, the mandrel includes a rod and a bulb at a distal end of the mandrel, with the bulb having a greater width than the rod, and the bulb width being greater than the width of the second portion of the channel and less than the width of the first portion of the channel.
Claims Coverage
The document includes two independent claims, covering the structural bone rivet and a bone rivet installation system. The inventive features focus on the deformable threaded shaft, the stepped channel through the head, the full-length cutting flute, and the mandrel bulb/rod geometry constrained relative to the rivet channel portions.
Deformable threaded shaft with forced expansion and maintained deformation
A body portion including a head and a threaded shaft, wherein a portion of the threaded shaft is deformable such that a width of the portion of the threaded shaft after deformation is greater than a width of the threaded shaft prior to deformation; wherein the body portion is constructed of a material such that the portion of the threaded shaft deforms upon forced expansion and subsequently maintains that deformation.
Stepped channel through the head with first wider and second narrower portions
A channel extends through the body portion, the channel including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion having a greater width than the second portion, and the first portion of the channel extending through the head of the body portion.
Full-length cutting flute along the deformable threaded-shaft portion
The threaded shaft includes a cutting flute extending along a full length of the portion of the threaded shaft that is deformable.
Mandrel with rod and distal bulb width constrained relative to channel portions
A mandrel including a rod and a bulb at a distal end of the mandrel, the bulb having a greater width than the rod; wherein the width of the bulb is greater than the width of the second portion of the channel and less than the width of the first portion of the channel.
Across both independent claims, the coverage centers on a bone rivet having a deformable portion of a threaded shaft that expands in width and maintains that deformation, a channel through the body portion with a first wider portion extending through the head and a second narrower portion, and a threaded shaft cutting flute extending along a full length of the deformable portion; the installation system further requires a mandrel bulb whose width is constrained between the widths of the two channel portions.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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