Patent ID: 7354442

Claim:
A bone anchor, comprising: a bone engaging portion having a proximal end portion and a distal end portion, said bone engaging portion including a cannula passage extending at least partially therethrough from said proximal end portion toward said distal end portion and at least one transverse opening in communication with said cannula passage, said proximal end portion including a recess; and an elongate guiding portion including an end portion and a shaft portion extending axially from said end portion, said end portion received within said recess to engage said guiding portion with said bone engaging portion, said shaft portion having proximal end and a length extending outside of a patient's body when said bone engaging portion is engaged to bone, said length of said shaft portion extending outside of the patient's body having an outer transverse dimension sized smaller than an inner cross section of said recess to thereby define an annular passage between said shaft portion and an inner wall of said proximal end portion; and a device having a distal end defining a passage sized larger than an outer transverse dimension of said proximal end of said shaft portion, said proximal end of said shaft portion inserted into and through said passage to allow said distal end of said device to be guided along said shaft portion and into said annular passage, said annular passage sized larger than said distal end of said device, said distal end positioned within said annular passage to engage said device with said proximal end portion of said bone engaging portion.