| 摘要 |
An expandable fastener is used to join adjacent portions of bones for surgical recovery. The fastener typically includes a sleeve having an expandable section and a ram that is moveable between a ready position and a deployed position. When the ram is moved to the deployed position, the ram forces the sleeve to expand against at least one of the bone sections. Preferably, the sleeve includes a plurality of prongs in the expandable section that are forced outwardly when the ram is moved to the deployed position. The prongs may include protrusions having bearing surfaces that curve outwardly from the bore of the sleeve. When the sleeve is expanded, the protrusion bearing surfaces apply both a lateral and a radial force, with the radial force acting to clamp one or both of the bone portions between the prong and a flange on the sleeve. In some embodiments, the fastener is designed to be shorter than the surrounding bone is thick so that the fastener may be used to secure adjacent bone sections without extending into the cranial cavity. A method of using the fastener is also disclosed wherein a fastener is inserted into at least one craniotomy burr hole and thereafter expanded, such as by driving the ram of the typical fastener down into to sleeve by screwing the ram into the sleeve. All burr holes may be filled by a fastener, thereby providing multi-point fixation of the bone flap to the surrounding cranial bone.
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