METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTRAOPERATIVELY MEASURING AND TRIMMING THE LENGTH OF FRACTURE FIXATION DEVICES

摘要

A bone fracture fixation device may be intraoperatively trimmed to length with the aid of a fixture that includes a device carrier, slidabl in conjunction with the proximally mounted device. A method of bone fracture fixation includes selecting an appropriately sized fixation screw, drilling a hole across the fracture site, forming a countersunk hole across the drilled hole, locating the device carrier in the drilled hole, translating the carrier to the distal extent of the drilled hole, cutting the device at the demarcation point indicated by th carrier, tapping the entire length of the drilled hole, inserting the end of the trimmed fixation screw into the finisher, turning the screw with respect to the finisher until the original chamfer has been reformed at the distal end, and driving the screw into the drilled hole until the screw head is flush or countersunk with the surface of the bone.