Bone nail and instruments for the treatment of fractures

Claim 1

A thin, elongated flexible and resilient bone nail, having a longitudinal axis and having a substantially uniform cross-section along the length thereof, for the treatment of fractures in the proximal femur zone, comprising a distal end portion adapted to be disposed at the outer surface of the femoral condyle and having a free end terminating in a distal tip of the nail, a proximal end portion adapted to be seated in the natural femoral head and having a free end, and a curved intermediate portion between said end portions, with said proximal end portion being provided at the free end thereof with a rounded-off thickened portion and with the cross-sectional configuration of said distal end portion of the nail being polygonal with edges rounded off and identical to the cross-sectional configuration of the remainder of the nail, except for said rounded-off thickened portion and a recess in said distal end portion formed by a solid polygonal cutout having a bottom surface substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis and a plurality of additional surfaces coincident with a partial perimeter of said polygonal cross-section, said recess forming a reduced gripping portion which is polygonal in cross section for engagement with a driving tool and said recess being spaced from the distal tip of the nail by a length.