Adjustable Spine Distraction Implant Wedging Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Spinal stenosis, characterized by narrowing of the spine that puts pressure on the spinal cord and nerves, often requires invasive surgeries to alleviate pain, which can be costly and risky, especially for conditions like central canal and lateral stenosis, and existing implants lack the ability to adjust for varying spinous process sizes and configurations.
Innovation Solution
A minimally invasive adjustable implant that distracts adjacent vertebrae using expandable wedging members to increase the volume and cross-sectional area of the spinal canal, allowing for customizable distraction and relief of pressure on nerves and blood vessels, suitable for various spinal conditions including spinal stenosis and facet arthropathy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional invasive surgeries are used to treat spinal stenosis, then pain relief can be achieved, but surgical risk and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The implant includes expandable wedging members that can be adjusted from a compressed insertion state to an expanded distraction state. This dynamic expansion allows the implant to provide progressive distraction of the spinous processes, increasing spinal canal volume and relieving nerve compression while minimizing initial surgical trauma.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant enables controlled change in the distraction parameter between vertebrae through expansion of the wedging members. By adjusting the expansion degree, the spinal canal volume can be increased to relieve stenosis, while the minimally invasive insertion method reduces surgical risk compared to traditional open surgeries.
2Ease of manufacture
If fixed-size implants are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to different spinous process sizes is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The wedging members are designed with expandable structures that can change size from a compact insertion configuration to an expanded distraction configuration. This dynamic size adjustment allows a single implant design to accommodate various spinous process sizes and configurations, providing adaptability without requiring multiple fixed-size implant variants.
Solution Approach 2:
The wedging members can be nested or collapsed during insertion to minimize the size of the implant during the surgical procedure. After insertion, the wedging members can be expanded to provide the desired distraction. This nesting capability allows the implant to adapt to different anatomical sizes while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through a single design platform.
Data Source
AI summary
An adjustable spine distraction implant alleviates pain associated with spinal stenosis and facet arthropathy by expanding the volume and/or cross sectional area in the spinal canal and/or neural foramen. The adjustable implant provides a spinal extension inhibitor. The implant includes elliptical or oval shaped adjustable member or spacer for positioning between and adjustably spacing apart the spinous processes.