Angled Osteal Tunnel Drilling Guide with Blind Suture Retrieval
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current osteal guide technologies are limited in creating precise, angled osteal tunnels with sufficient strength and flexibility, especially in areas with anatomical constraints like nerves and blood vessels, and often require multiple instruments, leading to potential errors and complications in ligament and tendon repair surgeries.
Innovation Solution
The development of a method using a guide component that allows for the drilling of angled osteal tunnels with intersecting portions, enabling the creation of stronger tunnels by reaming to accommodate sutures and tissues, and a suture seizing mechanism for blind retrieval and anchoring, facilitating precise and robust tunnel formation without direct visualization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional surgical positioning instruments are used to drill osteal tunnels, then precise positioning can be achieved, but the instruments may interfere with delicate anatomical structures like nerves and blood vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is divided into separate functional modules: a positioning guide component that establishes the tunnel trajectory, and a drilling component that follows the established path. This segmentation allows the positioning function to be performed without the drilling instrument being present in the delicate anatomical area, reducing interference while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
A guide wire or guide needle is introduced as an intermediary element. The positioning instrument first establishes the trajectory and places the guide wire, which then serves as a temporary mediator to define the drilling path. The actual drilling instrument follows this pre-established path, avoiding direct interference with nerves and blood vessels during the critical positioning phase.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the osteal tunnel is drilled close to the bone surface to avoid anatomical obstructions, then nerve and vessel damage is reduced, but the tunnel wall becomes thin and weak
Solution Approach 1:
The tunnel geometry is modified to have non-uniform properties: the tunnel wall thickness is increased at critical locations (entrance and exit zones) while maintaining a thinner profile in the middle section. This local quality enhancement provides structural strength where needed while preserving the benefit of avoiding deep anatomical structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The tunnel trajectory is pre-planned and pre-positioned using imaging and guide instruments before the actual drilling occurs. This preliminary action allows optimization of the tunnel path to achieve the best compromise between avoiding nerves/vessels and maintaining adequate wall thickness, rather than reacting during the drilling process.
3Measurement precision
If multiple surgical instruments are used for drilling and positioning osteal tunnels, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the complexity of the surgical procedure increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functions (positioning, guiding, and drilling) are merged into a single integrated instrument system. The instrument includes a positioning guide that establishes the trajectory and a drilling component that follows the same path, eliminating the need for separate positioning and drilling instruments while maintaining positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical instrument is designed with multi-functionality: it can perform positioning, guide wire placement, and drilling operations. This universal instrument reduces the total number of instruments needed while maintaining the precision benefits of specialized positioning tools.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for drilling enlarged osteal tunnels using osteal guides capable of drilling an angled osteal tunnel, namely, an osteal tunnel having an angle or turn within the bone and for drawing a muscle, tendon or ligament in need of repair into the enlarged osteal tunnel such that the bone can mend about, around, over and/or within the muscle, tendon or ligament. A reamer and guide wire can be used to create the enlarged osteal tunnel to accommodate a portion of the muscle, tendon or ligament in need of repair. The device allows for the blind intraosseous preparation of osteal tunnels and the blind intraosseous retrieval of sutures from such osteal tunnels.