Patent ID: 7842071

Claim:
A connecting assembly for interconnecting spinal rods secured to spinal vertebrae, the connecting assembly comprising: an elongate cross rod having a first cross rod end and a second cross rod end and a longitudinal axis extending between the first cross rod end and second cross rod end; a first rod receiving device and a second rod receiving device each configured to receive a cross rod end and a spinal rod, the first rod receiving device configured to allow the first cross rod end received thereby to pivot with respect to the first rod receiving device, and the second rod receiving device configured to adjustably receive the second cross rod end so that an axial adjustable distance between the first rod receiving device and the second rod receiving device can be selected by axial adjustment of the cross rod therebetween; a first rotatable actuator and a second rotatable actuator each associated with one of the first rod receiving device and the second rod receiving device, with the first rotatable actuator rotated to secure the first cross rod end to the first rod receiving device against pivoting relative thereto and the second rotatable actuator rotated to secure the second cross rod end to the second rod receiving device against axial shifting relative thereto so that the axial adjustable distance between the first rod receiving device and the second rod receiving device is fixed; wherein the second rod receiving device includes an axially extending bore and a clamping mechanism located therein, the clamping mechanism operated by rotation of the second actuator to clamp the second cross rod end against axial movement; the clamping mechanism comprising an elongate clamping sleeve that extends axially in the axially extending bore, with the second cross rod end and the axial bore being sized to allow the second cross rod end to be adjusted to different axial positions within the elongate clamping sleeve so that operation of the second rotatable actuator causes clamping of the second cross rod end against axial movement to fix the axial distance between the rod receiving devices to a selected axial distance therebetween.