Patent ID: 8568459

Claim:
An apparatus for occipito-cervical fixation, comprising: an occi-cervical base member having a “C”-shaped central part that includes a pair of transversely spaced apart free ends; a first attachment rod connected to and extending transversely from a first free end of said pair of free ends; a second attachment rod connected to and extending transversely from a second free end of said pair of free ends; a first polyaxial screw head adapted to be implanted in a first occipital condyle of a patient; and a second polyaxial screw head adapted to be implanted in a second occipital condyle of a patient, wherein each of said polyaxial screw heads comprises two grooves disposed at a ninety degree (90°) angle relative to one another, a first groove of said two grooves being deeper than a second groove of said two grooves.