Adjustable Occipital Plate with Rotatable Attachment Assemblies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fixation devices in orthopedic surgery require multiple sizes and geometries of occipital plates to accommodate varying patient anatomy, leading to increased surgical time and inventory costs due to misalignment issues during rod-plate connections.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable occipital plate with angled sections and multi-adjustable attachment assemblies, featuring a dove-tail joint and rotatable post system, allowing for medial-lateral and angular adjustments to securely attach rods to the occipital plate, accommodating various patient sizes and configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sizes and geometries of occipital plates are used to accommodate varying patient anatomy, then adaptability to different patient sizes is improved, but device complexity and inventory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The occipital plate is designed with multiple attachment assemblies that can be positioned at different locations and orientations on a single plate body, allowing one plate to serve multiple functions and accommodate various rod configurations and patient anatomies without requiring multiple different plate sizes or geometries
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sizes and geometries of occipital plates are maintained in inventory, then adaptability to different patient sizes is improved, but loss of time during surgery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The occipital plate is pre-configured with multiple attachment assemblies at predetermined locations and orientations during manufacturing, so that during surgery the surgeon can simply select and attach rods to the appropriate assemblies without needing to search for or switch between multiple different plate sizes or geometries
3Reliability
If rods are precisely aligned with connection features on the plate, then connection reliability is improved, but ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment assemblies are designed with rotational and positional adjustability, allowing them to be dynamically repositioned and reoriented during surgery to match the actual rod positions and orientations, thereby maintaining reliable connections even when precise pre-alignment is difficult to achieve
Data Source
AI summary
An occipital plate may include a central section, a pair of angled sections, and attachment assemblies comprising slide members configured to move along slots in the angled sections, and posts coupled to the slide members. Each post has a first and second cross dimensions. The first cross dimension of each post is less than a first cross dimension of a slide member. The second cross dimension of each post is approximately equal to a second cross dimension of a slide member. Rods may be coupled to the occipital plate at a variety of angles with respect to a midline of the plate. The angular adjustability may accommodate any misalignments in the rods. Further, the position of the attachment assemblies relative to the midline is adjustable to thereby provide for medial-lateral adjustability when attaching the rods to the occipital plate as part of an occipito-cervico-thoracic construct.