Arthroscopic Suturing Instrument for Multi-Pass Tissue Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical suturing devices and techniques face challenges in cramped or tight surgical environments, particularly in arthroscopic and laparoscopic procedures, leading to poor outcomes due to suture failure and difficulty in achieving complex suture configurations in tissues like the rotator cuff.
Innovation Solution
The development of surgical instruments that manipulate tissues to allow multiple passes of sutures through the tissue, enabling complex locking and grasping suture configurations, such as rolling, wrinkling, folding, or tucking, to improve the quality of repairs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If simple suture configurations are used with current instruments, then the surgical procedure is easier to perform, but the repair strength is insufficient and sutures pull out of the tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from simple linear suture paths to complex three-dimensional suture configurations by enabling the needle to pass through the tissue multiple times in different directions and planes. This dimensional complexity creates interlocking suture patterns that significantly enhance repair strength while maintaining ease of operation through the instrument's automated needle guidance system.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument pre-positions the needle and suture material to enable complex suture configurations before the actual suturing action occurs. The needle is guided through predetermined paths that create optimal suture patterns, allowing the surgeon to achieve high-strength repairs without manually manipulating the suture through complex trajectories during the procedure.
2Strength
If complex suture configurations are attempted with current instruments, then the repair strength improves, but the surgical procedure becomes more difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical manipulation of the needle and suture with an automated needle guidance system. The instrument mechanically guides the needle through complex three-dimensional paths without requiring the surgeon to manually maneuver the needle, thus achieving high-strength complex suture configurations while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument acts as an intermediary between the surgeon's simple triggering action and the complex needle trajectory. The device translates a simple surgeon input into sophisticated multi-pass needle movements through internal guidance mechanisms, enabling complex suturing without increasing operational difficulty.
3Reliability
If multiple needle passes through tissue are performed to create complex sutures, then the load resistance improves, but the surgical time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables continuous needle passage through the tissue without requiring the surgeon to manually reposition or re-grasp the needle between passes. The instrument maintains continuous control of the needle throughout multiple tissue penetrations, creating complex high-load-resistance sutures in a single uninterrupted motion that reduces surgical time.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument pre-programmes the needle trajectory to include multiple tissue passes in optimal sequences. By planning the complete suture path beforehand and executing it in one continuous motion, the device achieves high load resistance without proportionally increasing surgical time, as the complex multi-pass pattern is executed efficiently without repeated setup.
Data Source
AI summary
Instruments for placing complex sutures into animal tissues, including instruments useful in arthroscopic surgical techniques which minimize incision size. The instruments manipulate tissue by, for example, rolling, wrinkling, folding, bending, or tucking the tissue so that a needle can be placed through the tissue more than once. Sutures are placed, for example from top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top with a single pass of a straight needle. In addition, the instruments can roll, wrinkle, fold, bend, or tuck the flat tissue so that a needle can be placed through the tissue more than once and a loop can be sutured through the tissue so that another suture can pass through resulting in sewing both sides of the tissue. This will allow surgeons to place complex locking and grasping suture configurations that will significantly improve the repair.