Patent ID: 8721644

Claim:
A method of treating a comminuted fractured bone of an animal using an intramedullary (IM) apparatus, the method comprising: inserting an IM nail into a medullary cavity of a first bone fragment of the fractured bone from a fracture end of the first bone fragment, wherein the IM nail is elongated along a longitudinal axis and has at least four of locking holes positioned along the longitudinal axis, such that at least one of the locking holes is hidden in the first bone fragment, and an exposed part of the IM nail from the fracture end of the first bone fragment has at least three of the locking holes; inserting the exposed part of the IM nail into a medullary cavity of a second bone fragment of the fractured bone from a fracture end of the second bone fragment such that the at least one of the locking holes on the exposed part of the IM nail is hidden in the second bone fragment, and at least two of the locking holes are exposed; mounting a positional reference member to the IM nail by two positioning members inserted into the at least two exposed locking holes, such that a longitudinal vernier scale on the positional reference member is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the IM nail; locating the at least one hidden locking hole in the first bone fragment and the at least one hidden locking hole in the second bone fragment by the longitudinal vernier scale of the positional reference member; fixing the IM nail to the first and second bone fragments by inserting two locking members to the located hidden locking holes through the first and second bone fragments, respectively; and fixing a plurality of third bone fragments of the fractured bone on the IM nail, wherein the third bone fragments are positioned between the first and second bone fragments.