BONE PLATE WITH COMPLEX, ADJACENT HOLES JOINED BY A RELIEF-SPACE

摘要

A bone plate (10) is described which is adapted for use in situ to fix a spatial relationship of at least two bone parts (80). The bone plate (10) ha s at least one pair of the bone screw apertures that are adjoined by a relie f-space contiguous with the open space of the screw apertures themselves. An adjoined aperture pair forms a complex aperture and has a center-to- center distanced of the apertures along an axis running through the centers of the apertures. The center-to-center distance d is equal to or greater than the sum of the radii (r1 + r2) of the heads of the individual bone screw used wi th the aperture pair. At least one of the screw apertures (24) has a screw h ead seat (34) having at least one relief notch (84) set into a surface of th e screw head seat (34). The relief notch 84 provides desirable advantages th at are not similarly accomplished in their absence, such as a clearance pass age for a tensioning wire 88 or a receiver for a self-locking insert 92.