BONE ANCHOR COMPRISING A SHAPE MEMORY ELEMENT AND UITILIZING TEMPERATURE TRANSITION TO SECURE THE BONE ANCHOR IN BONE

摘要

A bone anchor (20) that uses temperature transition of a shape memory material to expand the anchor within a bone. Thermal transformation of the metallic crystal state (and hence the stress/strain properties) of shape memory alloy (e.g., Nitinol, NiTi) expands engagement elements (32) within the bone to fix the bone anchor in place. Various self-locking assemblies (60) for attached suture material to the bone anchor are also disclosed.