Compression brace

Abstract

A surgical device for pressing and retaining adjacent bones against one another comprising a compression brace and separate fasteners. The compression brace has at least two fastener retaining portions. Each fastener retaining portion has a fastener hole therethrough for receiving a fastener, such as a screw or pin. A pair of bridge members are positioned between the fastener retaining portions, and are spaced apart from one another to form a compression opening. The compression bracket can include a plurality of fastener retaining portions and a plurality of compression openings. In some embodiments, the fasteners are maintained in a substantially fixed relation with the fastener retaining portion. The brace is installed on adjacent bones such that a fastener engages each bone. The compression opening is spread apart to draw the fasteners toward one another, and thereby compress the adjacent bones together.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 receiving a compression brace in a drill guide such that a first fastener retainer of the compression brace is received within a first counterbore of the drill guide, a second fastener retainer of the compression brace is received within a second counterbore of the drill guide, and a first bridge member that extends directly from an outer surface of the first and second fastener retaining portions is received within slide slots defined by the first and second counterbores;   inserting a first threaded shaft of a first fastener into a first threaded opening defined by the first fastener retainer;   driving the first threaded shaft into a first bone segment until threads of a first head of the first fastener engage the first threaded opening;   inserting a second threaded shaft of a second fastener into a second threaded opening defined by the second fastener retainer;   driving the second threaded shaft into a second bone segment until threads of a second head of the second fastener engage the second threaded opening;   removing the drill guide from its engagement with the compression brace; and   deforming the first bridge member to adjust a distance between the first and second fastener retaining portions to thereby provide one of distraction or compression to the first and second bone segments.   
     
     
         2 . The method  claim 1 , wherein the compression brace includes a second bridge member that extends directly from an outer surface of the first and second fastener retaining portions and defines a compression opening with the first bridge member. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising deforming the second bridge member to adjust a distance between the first and second fastener retaining portions to thereby provide one of distraction or compression to the first and second bone segments.