Patent ID: 8277489

Claim:
A transconnector for joining adjacent longitudinal spinal rods, the spinal rods being secured to a patient's vertebra via a plurality of bone fixation elements, each of the bone fixation elements including a body portion having a rod-receiving channel for receiving one of the longitudinal spinal rods, the transconnector comprising: a bridge member having a first end and a second end; and first and second bone fixation coupling elements, wherein the first and second bone fixation coupling elements are sized and configured to engage the first and second ends of the bridge member, wherein the first and second bone fixation coupling elements are each sized and configured to engage one of the bone fixation elements, each of the bone fixation coupling elements including a locking cap, a bushing and a nut, the bushing being sized and configured to interconnect the locking cap with the bridge member, the locking cap including a first set of threads for engaging the bone fixation element, and wherein the locking cap includes a second set of threads for engaging the nut and a tapered central portion located in between the first and second set of threads.