Provisional Alignment Tool for Pin-Sparing Orthopaedic Guide Positioning
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing orthopaedic surgical procedures face challenges in accurately positioning cutting guides relative to patient bones during joint arthroplasty, often requiring multiple pinholes in stress-bearing regions and risking fractures, while existing adjustable cutting guides require additional pins for fine-tuning.
Innovation Solution
A provisional alignment tool that attaches to a bone tracking assembly, allowing a surgical navigation system to adjust and secure a cutting guide to a planned position using the same pins for the assembly, reducing the need for additional pins and minimizing pinholes, and detachable components to prevent vibration transfer during cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If existing orthopaedic surgical procedures use multiple pins for positioning cutting guides, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the risk of bone fractures increases due to multiple pinholes in stress-bearing regions
Solution Approach 1:
The provisional alignment tool combines multiple pinholes into a single shared pinhole structure. The tool attaches to the bone tracking assembly through shared pins, allowing the cutting guide to be positioned accurately while minimizing the number of pinholes created in the stress-bearing regions of the bone.
Solution Approach 2:
The provisional alignment tool acts as an intermediary device between the bone tracking assembly and the cutting guide. It provides a mechanism to transfer and maintain the desired position without requiring direct multiple pin attachments to the bone, thereby reducing fracture risk while preserving positioning accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If existing adjustable cutting guides use additional pins for fine-tuning position, then positioning precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The provisional alignment tool serves multiple functions: it attaches the cutting guide to the bone tracking assembly, enables fine-tuning of position, and maintains the desired orientation throughout the procedure. This multi-functionality is achieved through a single integrated device rather than multiple separate pins and adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The provisional alignment tool incorporates adjustable components that allow dynamic fine-tuning of the cutting guide position and orientation. The tool can be adjusted incrementally to achieve precise positioning while maintaining flexibility during the surgical procedure.
Data Source
AI summary
Provisional alignment tools and associated methods for computer-assisted orthopaedic surgical procedures are disclosed. One such method comprises pinning a bone tracking assembly to a patient's bone, attaching a provisional alignment tool to the bone tracking assembly such that the provisional alignment tool maintains a cutting guide attached to the provisional alignment tool in an initial position, receiving feedback from a surgical navigation system regarding a difference between the initial position and a planned position for the cutting guide in a surgical plan for the orthopaedic surgical procedure, adjusting one or more components of the provisional alignment tool to move the cutting guide into the planned position, pinning the cutting guide to the patient's bone while the provisional alignment tool maintains the cutting guide in the planned position, and cutting the patient's bone while the bone tracking assembly remains pinned to the patient's bone.