Bone Anchor Locking Blade for Minimally Invasive Spinal Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spinal surgeries are invasive due to procedures like tapping and undertapping, and the alignment of bone screws with fixation devices is challenging due to anatomical variations and screw placement discrepancies, leading to increased surgical duration and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The use of elongated blades with rotational and axial locking features, attached to surgical devices like bone anchors, to create a minimally invasive surgical path, and the development of a bone anchor with a tulip housing and polyaxial features that allow for alignment adjustments and reduced invasiveness by eliminating tapping or undertapping steps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional tapping or undertapping procedures are used to prepare bone holes for bone anchors, then the bone anchor can be securely installed, but the surgical invasiveness increases and surgery duration lengthens
Solution Approach 1:
The bone anchor is designed with pre-formed threads and a structure that allows direct insertion into the bone after hole creation, eliminating the need for preliminary tapping procedures. The anchor's threads are pre-configured to engage bone tissue effectively without requiring progressive hole enlargement
Solution Approach 2:
The tapping step is completely removed from the surgical procedure. The bone anchor system is designed to function without requiring a tap to create threading in the bone, extracting this unnecessary intermediate step that increased invasiveness and surgical time
2Manufacturing precision
If tapping procedures are performed to widen bone holes progressively, then the bone anchor fits properly, but the surgery duration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bone anchor threads and dimensions are pre-manufactured with precise specifications that match the prepared bone hole. The anchor arrives in the operating room ready for direct insertion, eliminating the need for progressive hole enlargement and ensuring proper fit from the first insertion attempt
Solution Approach 2:
The progressive tapping steps (smallest diameter tap, then slightly larger, and so on) are skipped entirely. The procedure rushes directly from bone hole creation to bone anchor insertion, maintaining precision through pre-manufactured components rather than iterative enlargement
3Adaptability or versatility
If polyaxial bone screws with articulating tulip receivers are used to accommodate alignment variations, then screw placement flexibility improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bone anchor is divided into functionally independent segments: a threaded shank portion for bone engagement and a separate tulip receiver portion for rod attachment. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, providing alignment flexibility through the tulip's articulation without complicating the anchoring function
Solution Approach 2:
The tulip receiver is designed with articulating capabilities that allow dynamic adjustment of the rod attachment angle relative to the shank portion. This dynamic feature enables the device to accommodate anatomical variations and placement discrepancies without requiring an overly complex rigid structure
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a surgical instrument configured for attachment to a surgical device. The surgical instrument includes a distal region having a curved internal surface configured to mate with a curved external surface of the surgical device, a rotational locking feature that limits rotational movement of the instrument with respect to the surgical device, and an axial locking feature that limits axial movement of the blade with respect to the surgical device. Methods of using the surgical instruments include sliding the axial locking feature past a corresponding axial locking feature on the surgical device, locking the axial locking feature to the corresponding axial locking feature on the surgical device (thereby limiting axial movement of the elongated blade with respect to the surgical device), adjusting the position of the surgical device using the surgical instrument, and disengaging the axial locking feature (for example, by using a disengagement instrument).