Patent ID: 8753380

Claim:
A bone screw comprising: a shank; a threaded portion formed on an end of the shank; a frangible region formed in the shank; a material disposed over the frangible region, wherein the material is an absorbable material selected to be absorbable in-vivo after installation of the screw in the bone; and an unthreaded portion disposed between the threaded portion and the frangible region, wherein the unthreaded portion is configured to facilitate removal of the threaded portion of the screw from a bone when the frangible region of the screw has broken after installation of the screw in the bone; wherein the frangible region is a reduced-cross-section portion of the shank; wherein the reduced-cross-section portion is an annular groove; wherein the material is selected from the group of absorbable materials consisting of calcium phosphate and calcium sulphate; wherein the unthreaded portion comprises at least one pair of flat and substantially parallel sides.