A bone plate has an underside on the side of the bone, an upper side and a plurality of holes in the plate connecting the underside with the upper side, with a central hole axis. At least one of these holes in the plate has an internal jacket surface that tapers towards the underside, while the internal jacket surface has N≧3 recesses which extend radially away from the axis of the hole.
1. A bone plate system comprising:
a bone plate, including:
an upper surface;
a lower surface; and
a hole extending from the upper surface to the lower surface, the hole having a central hole axis and an internal jacket surface, wherein the internal jacket surface includes N recesses extending radially away from the central axis, where N≧3 and the internal jacket surface includes surface projections on at least a portion of the internal jacket surface, a first one of the recesses extending through an entire thickness of the bone plate from the upper surface to the lower surface thereof; and
a bone fixation element sized and shaped to be inserted through the hole at a user selected angle within a permitted range of angles relative to the central hole axis such that a threaded head of the bone fixation element engages the surface projections of the internal jacket to fix the bone fixation element in the hole at the user selected angle.
2. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the internal jacket surface tapers towards the lower surface of the plate.
3. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the internal jacket surface has a concave shape.
4. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the internal jacket surface has a spherical or ellipsoidal shape.
5. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the hole is oblong in shape.
6. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the surface projections are threads or ribs.
7. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the N recesses are angularly spaced at a distance of 360°/N relative to the central axis of the hole.
8. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein each recess has a peripheral expansion of at least 1°.
9. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein each recess has a maximum peripheral expansion of 119°.
10. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the recesses extend exclusively within the internal jacket surface of the hole.
11. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the recesses extend radially away from the axis of the hole beyond the internal jacket surface.
12. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein a second one of the recesses extends from the upper surface to the lower surface through the entire thickness of the bone plate.
13. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the surface projections on the internal jacket surface of the hole are formed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis of the hole.
14. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of polyacryl etherketone (PEAK) or polyether etherketone (PEEK) with an elongation at break of 40-70% and a modulus of elasticity of 3000-6000 N/mm 2 .
15. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of polysulphon with an elongation at break of 80-120% and a modulus of elasticity of 2000-3500 N/mm 2 .
16. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of liquid crystal polymer (LCP) with an elongation at break of 1.5-2.5% and a modulus of elasticity of 5000-20000 N/mm 2 .
17. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of polyoxymethylene (POM) with an elongation at break of 10-50% and a modulus of elasticity of 2000-3500 N/mm 2 .
18. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) with an elongation at break of 0.2-1.0% and a modulus of elasticity of 12000-20000 N/mm 2 .
19. The bone plate system of claim 1 , wherein the plate is formed of a metal, plastic or carbon fibre reinforced plastic material.
20. The bone plate system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one bone screw having a tapered head portion configured and adapted to interface with the surface projections on the internal jacket surface of the hole for angularly stable anchoring in the plate.
21. The bone plate system of claim 20 , wherein the internal jacket surface and the head portion of the bone screw have matching threaded surfaces.
22. A bone plate system comprising:
a bone plate, including:
an upper surface;
a lower surface;
a plate thickness defined by the upper and lower surfaces;
a hole extending from the upper surface to the lower surface, the hole having a central hole axis, a periphery, and an internal surface;
a plurality of surface projections on the internal surface of the hole, the projections oriented generally perpendicular to the central axis of the hole; and
at least three recesses in the internal surface of the hole angularly spaced about the periphery and extending radially away from the central axis,
wherein a first one of the recesses extends from the upper surface to the lower surface through the entire thickness of the bone plate thereof; and
a bone fixation element sized and shaped to be inserted through the hole at a user selected angle within a permitted range of angles relative to the central hole axis such that a threaded head of the bone fixation element engages the surface projections of the internal jacket to fix the bone fixation element in the hole at the user selected angle.
23. The bone plate system of claim 22 , wherein the internal surface of the hole tapers towards the lower surface of the plate.
24. The bone plate system of claim 23 , further comprising at least one bone screw having a tapered head portion configured and adapted to interface with the surface projections on the internal surface of the hole for angularly stable anchoring in the plate.
25. The bone plate system of claim 22 , wherein each recess angularly extends at least 40° along the periphery of the hole about the central axis.
26. A bone plate system comprising:
a bone plate, including:
a bottom side facing the bone;
a top side; and
a plurality of plate holes connecting the bottom side with the top side, each plate hole having a central hole axis, an inner surface, and a threading,
wherein each inner surface has N≧3 recesses extending away from the hole axis and intersecting the threading, a first one of the recesses extending through an entire thickness of the bone plate from the top side to the bottom side thereof, and
a bone fixation element sized and shaped to be inserted through one of the plurality of holes at a user selected angle within a permitted range of angles relative to the central hole axis such that a threaded head of the bone fixation element jumps over the threaded sections of the hole intersected by the recesses without cutting when the bone fixation element is fixed therein at the user selected angle.
27. A bone plate system comprising:
a bone plate, including:
a bottom side facing the bone;
a top side; and
a plurality of plate holes connecting the bottom side with the top side, each plate hole having a central hole axis, an inner surface, and a threading,
wherein each inner surface has N≦3 recesses extending away from the hole axis and intersecting the threading, a first one of the recesses extending through an entire thickness of the bone plate from the top side to the bottom side thereof, and
wherein the peripheral expansion of each recess is equal to or greater than the peripheral expansion of adjacent sections of the threadings; and
a bone fixation element sized and shaped to be inserted through the one of the plurality of holes at a user selected angle within a permitted range of angles relative to the central hole axis such that a threaded head of the bone fixation element engages the threading along the inner surface of the hole to fix the bone fixation element in the hole at the user selected angle.