Bone Cutting Guide for Minimally Invasive Foot Surgery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical techniques for treating metatarsus adductus and hallux valgus often require longer incisions, leading to larger scars and reduced access for the surgeon, making it challenging to perform less invasive procedures while achieving accurate and reproducible results.
Innovation Solution
The use of specialized surgical devices and techniques that allow for realignment and fusion of bones in the foot through a smaller incision, utilizing bone cutting guides with skin cutout features to facilitate exposure of specific bone areas without increasing the incision size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a longer incision is made to access the underlying bones, then the surgeon has greater access to perform the procedure, but the patient has a longer scar which is cosmetically undesirable
Solution Approach 1:
The bone cutting guide is divided into multiple segments or sections that can be independently positioned and adjusted. This allows the guide to accommodate different bone anatomies and surgical approaches without requiring a uniformly long incision, enabling the surgeon to access specific bone areas through smaller, strategically placed incisions
Solution Approach 2:
The bone cutting guide incorporates dynamic adjustment mechanisms that allow real-time modification of its configuration during the surgical procedure. This enables the guide to adapt to varying surgical needs and patient anatomies, providing the necessary access for bone exposure and manipulation through minimally invasive incisions while maintaining surgical precision
2Length of moving object
If a shorter incision is used to reduce scarring, then the cosmetic outcome is improved, but the surgeon has limited access for performing the procedure
Solution Approach 1:
The bone cutting guide serves as an intermediary tool that extends the surgeon's reach and provides a mechanical advantage for accessing and manipulating bones through small incisions. The guide acts as a mediator between the limited incision size and the deeper surgical site, enabling precise bone exposure and manipulation without requiring extensive skin exposure
Solution Approach 2:
The bone cutting guide utilizes multi-dimensional positioning and orientation capabilities to access bones from angles and directions that are not directly aligned with the incision path. This allows the surgeon to reach deep bone structures through small superficial incisions by utilizing three-dimensional spatial relationships and guide positioning
3Length of moving object
If specialized surgical devices are used to facilitate less invasive procedures, then the incision size can be reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bone cutting guide is designed with pre-configured features and pre-positioned components that are prepared in advance for the surgical procedure. This includes pre-designed cutting paths, pre-positioned guiding surfaces, and pre-configured adjustment mechanisms that are ready for immediate use, reducing the need for complex intraoperative assembly and simplifying the overall device operation during surgery
Data Source
AI summary
A variety of surgical procedures may be performed on the bones of the foot, such as on one or more lesser metatarsals of the foot positioned laterally of the first metatarsal. For example, a surgical procedure may involve cutting an end of one or both of a second metatarsal and an intermediate cuneiform and/or cutting an end of one or both of a third metatarsal and a lateral cuneiform. The tarsometatarsal joints defined be one or both sets of bones may be cut to treat an arthritic joint, metatarsus adductus, and/or other clinical condition. In any case, various surgical instruments can be utilized during a procedure to help increase the accuracy and repeatability of the procedure patient-to-patient, improving overall patient outcomes and making it less invasive. For example, one or more cut guides having tissue control features may be utilized during procedure.