CERVICAL PLATE

1 . A bone plate for use as a orthopedic implant comprising a body that has a plurality of openings therethrough; a maximum cross-sectional area in a region of said body of said bone plate that is widest is greater than a maximum cross-sectional area in a region of said body of said bone plate that is narrowest.

2 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said cross-sectional area in a region of said body of said bone plate that is widest is 10-40% greater than said cross-sectional area in a region of said body of said bone plate that is narrowest.

3 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said body is at least partially formed of a refractory alloy or a metal alloy that includes at least 10 awt. % rhenium.

4 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said bone plate has a maximum width of 10-17 mm, a minimum width of 3-9 mm, a maximum thickness of 0.8-3 mm, a cross-sectional area of 6.0-16 mm 2 , and wherein said cross-sectional area of said bone plate varies along a longitudinal length of said bone plate.

5 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said bone plate includes a plurality of screw openings, a width of each of said screw openings is 2.0-5 mm; each of said screw openings is located 0.7-2.5 mm from an outer peripheral edge of said bone plate.

6 . The bone plate as defined in claim 9 , wherein a distance of two adjacently positioned screw openings is 0.7-4 mm.

7 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein an angle of a screw set in said screw opening to the top surface of the bone plate is 0-25° relative to a central longitudinal axis of said screw opening; two or more screw openings are configured to cause said angle of said screw set in said screw openings to be different from one another.

8 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said bone plate includes at least one cam recess that is configured to releasably engage a cam; a portion of the cam recess includes a cam opening that passes fully through the bone plate; a diameter of said cam opening is 2-5 mm; 10-50% of said cam recess does not fully penetrate said bone plate; said portion of said cam recess that does not fully penetrate said bone plate is recessed from said top surface of said bone plate at about 0.1-0.6 mm; said portion of said cam recess that does not fully penetrate said bone plate has a thickness of 0.2-0.6 mm; said cam recess is located 1-3 mm from said outer peripheral edge of said bone plate.

9 . The bone plate as defined in claim 8 , wherein a portion of said cam recess terminates at at least one screw opening that is located adjacent to said cam recess.

10 . The bone plate as defined in claim 8 , wherein said cam recess includes a sloped surface positioned between two of said screw openings that are located adjacent to said cam recess; said slope surface is configured and oriented so said slope surface does not engage a cam during rotation of a cam in said cam recess.

11 . The bone plate as defined in claim 8 , wherein said cam recess includes one or more cam stops to limit rotation of a cam in said cam recess.

12 . The bone plate as defined in claim 11 , wherein said cam recess includes two of said cam stops; one of said cam stops limits rotation of a cam in a clockwise direction, and another of said cam stops limits rotation of a cam in a counter-clockwise direction.

13 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said bone plate includes one or more undulations on an outer side peripheral edge of said bone plate; an angle of curvature of said undulation along said outer side peripheral edge is 6-40°.

14 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein said screw openings allow for dual angulation of a screw in said screw opening along a longitudinal axis of the bone plate and along a lateral axis of said bone plate.

15 . The bone plate as defined in claim 1 , wherein one or more of said screw openings includes one or more concavely indented surfaces; said concavely indented surfaces extend into said screw openings; said concavely indented surfaces are not threaded surfaces.