Patent ID: 8257354

Claim:
An instrument system for positioning an internal fixation prosthesis during a surgical, radioscopic procedure for the repair of a fractured bone of a patient, the instrument system comprising: a. a target wire; b. a handle formed from a radio translucent material having a target hole for guided passage of the target wire along a target axis, whereby the target axis coincides with the intersection of a first plane and a second plane orthogonal to the first plane; c. a nose component attached to an end of the handle and removably connectable to the prosthesis, the nose component including an alignment sight formed from a radio-opaque material, the alignment sight comprises a pair of spaced-apart, opposing arms defining a U-shaped gap therebetween when radioscopically viewed along the first line of sight, whereby the target wire may be radioscopically viewed to extend centered between and parallel to the opposing arms when the full width of the gap is radioscopically viewable; whereby when the prosthesis is connected to the nose component and the target wire is positioned through the target hole along the target axis, the image of the target wire may be radioscopically viewed along a first line of sight contained in the first plane to bisect the image of the alignment sight, thereby providing a first visual reference to the user for directing the target wire into the desired portion of the bone while holding the prosthesis in a desired position relative to the bone.