Patent ID: 8425563

Claim:
A spinal support rod kit for the treatment of spinal column shape deformations, comprising: a first bone anchor for connecting to a first vertebra; a second bone anchor for connecting to a second vertebra; a third bone anchor for connecting to a third vertebra; a first spinal support rod connectable to the first bone anchor and the second bone anchor to fix the first vertebra to the second vertebra, the first spinal support rod having a first end, a second end, and a length spanning from the first end to the second end, the cross section having two opposed flat sides connected by a top surface, the rod terminating at the first end with a first planar end surface intersected by and oriented perpendicular to the flat sides, the rod terminating at the second end with a second planar end surface intersected by and oriented perpendicular to the flat sides, the first spinal support rod having a uniform cross-section along an entirety of the length of the rod from the first planar end surface to the second planar end surface, the first spinal support rod being formed from a shape memory alloy having thermally initiated shape recovery properties, wherein the first spinal rod is operable to apply corrective forces to the vertebra through the first and second bone anchors by the thermally initiated shape recovery properties of the shape memory alloy, a second spinal support rod connectable to the third bone anchor, the second spinal rod having a socket which is permanently connected to the second support rod at one end, the socket receiving the first end of the first spinal support rod, the socket having opposed side walls, the side walls each being generally flat in shape and including a portion of an internal thread, and a set screw engageable with the internal thread of the socket to prevent the first spinal support rod from being withdrawn from the socket, whereby the first spinal support rod is connected to the second spinal support rod to fix the first, second and third vertebra relative to each other.