Patent ID: RE39325

Claim:
A spinal fixation apparatus comprising: a longitudinal rod; a plurality of stem clamps mounted to said longitudinal rod, each of said stem clamps comprising a clamp body having a stem extending outwardly therefrom and an upper jaw and a lower jaw, said upper jaw being resiliently joined to said lower jaw through a cylindrical sidewall, said cylindrical sidewall forming one portion of a lateral throughbore through said clamp body for slidingly receiving said longitudinal rod in clamping relationship, said clamp body including a transverse throughbore passing through said upper jaw and said lower jaw, the portion of said transverse throughbore through said lower jaw having threads therein, said stem clamp including a bolt for passing through said transverse throughbore and threadedly engaging said threads in said lower jaw thereby compressing said upper jaw toward said lower jaw to securely anchor said stem clamp to said longitudinal rod; a plurality of C-clamps mounted to said stems and to said longitudinal rod, each of said C-clamps including a clamp body having an upper jaw and a lower jaw resiliently connected to said upper jaw through a cylindrical sidewall, said cylindrical sidewall forming a lateral throughbore through said clamp body for selectively receiving said longitudinal rod and said stems, said clamp body including a transverse throughbore through said upper jaw and said lower jaw, said transverse throughbore including threads in said lower jaw; and a bone screw for selectively securing said C-clamp to said longitudinal rod and said stem, said bone screw also mounting said C-clamp to bone, said bone screw having an elongated screw body and a screw head, said screw body having a distal end and a proximal end with said proximal end being adjacent said screw head, said screw body having a reduced diameter from said distal end to a diametrally enlarged shoulder adjacent said screw head, said reduced diameter passing through said transverse throughbore in said C-clamp in a nonbinding relationship, said screw body having a first set of threads with said diametrally enlarged shoulder having a second set of threads, said second set of threads being configured to threadedly engage said threads in said lower jaw of said C-clamp.