Patent ID: 7090675

Claim:
A system for maintaining positions of bone surfaces fixed relative to each other, the system comprising: a first anchor member constructed to be inserted in a bone portion including one of the bone surfaces to be relatively fixed; a second anchor member constructed to be inserted in another bone portion including the other bone surface to be relatively fixed; a first cable connected to the first anchor member; a second cable connected to the second anchor member; the first and second anchor members each having an axial bore in which the respective first and second cables extend and are secured with the bores being configured to each include tapered and radiused surface portions against which the respective cables bear to minimize discrete stress points on the cables extending therein and out therefrom with the tapered surface portion being substantially longer than the radiused surface portion; a connector between the first and second cables for interconnecting the cables to each other; and the first and second anchor members constructed to be substantially fully sunk into the bone portions to minimize space taken up thereby at the location in the body containing the bone portions and disposed on opposite sides of the bone surfaces with the connected cables spanning the surfaces to keep the surfaces fixed relative to each other.