Connector for fractured bones

Claim 1

A surgical appliance, particularly a connector for fractured bones, comprising an elongated sleeve adapted for insertion into a passage in a fractured bone so as to bridge the fracture thereof, said elongated sleeve having a front end and a rear end; an expansion sleeve at said front end and having a trailing end, a leading end, and a peripheral wall including a plurality of elongated strip-shaped portions extending between and connected with one another at said leading and trailing ends, respectively; a cap sleeve at said rear end accommodated within said elongated sleeve, said cap sleeve being provided with internal screw threads; expander means extending through said elongated sleeve from the region of said rear end to said leading end and having external screw threads which mesh with said internal screw threads, said expander means being connected with said expansion sleeve so that rotation of said cap sleeve in a predetermined sense effects radially outward buckling of said strip-shaped portions; and screw means at said rear end mating with said internal screw threads and having a head portion located exteriorly of said passage which is adapted to abut said bone so that rotation of said screw means in a predetermined sense subsequent to outward buckling of said strip-shaped portions enables a compressive force to be exerted on said bone in a sense drawing the bone fragments together.