Bone Plate Aiming Guide Segmentation Inversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aiming guide systems for bone plates, particularly in distal femur procedures, face challenges in providing a minimally invasive surgical approach with accurate and easy distal connection, leading to potential excessive soft tissue stripping and wound complications.
Innovation Solution
An aiming guide system featuring an aiming arm with a rigid body and a connection assembly that includes an attachment post with a threaded shaft and ball end pins, allowing for secure alignment and orientation with the bone plate, facilitating precise screw placement through a small incision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a full open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) approach is used for distal femur plates, then the plate can be securely attached to the bone, but the incision spans much of the length of the femur causing excessive soft tissue stripping and higher wound complications
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical approach is segmented into multiple small incisions distributed along the femur rather than one large incision. The aiming guide system enables this segmentation by allowing surgeons to make small incisions at specific locations (distal incision for plate insertion, proximal incisions for screw placement) while maintaining accurate alignment and secure fixation through the distributed access points.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If an aiming guide assembly is used to enable minimally invasive surgical approach, then soft tissue stripping is reduced, but the distal connection with the plate becomes complex and difficult to use
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment mechanism is inverted from the conventional approach. Instead of attaching the aiming guide to the plate through complex distal mechanisms, the attachment post with orienting boss extends proximally from the plate, and the aiming arm attaches to this post. This inversion simplifies the distal connection by providing a straightforward engagement interface that is easy to align and secure.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment post serves as an intermediary element between the plate and the aiming arm. The post with its orienting boss and mating surface provides a mediating interface that simplifies the connection process, allowing the aiming arm to be easily attached while maintaining accurate alignment with the plate's screw holes.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If an aiming guide system is used to target shaft holes with small incisions, then the surgical approach is minimally invasive, but accurate alignment and secure fixation of the aiming arm to the plate is challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment mechanism uses asymmetric features including the orienting boss with its specific shape and the corresponding attachment slot geometry. This asymmetry ensures that the aiming arm can only be attached in the correct orientation, providing inherent alignment accuracy. The ball end pins fitting into indentations on the plate further enforce proper positioning through asymmetric geometric constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment function is achieved through geometric constraints and mechanical features (orienting boss, attachment slot, ball end pins, indentations) rather than complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms. This substitution of alignment mechanics with geometric precision features simplifies the system while maintaining high alignment accuracy between the aiming holes and plate screw holes.
Data Source
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AI summary
An aiming guide system configured for connection to a bone plate including an aiming arm and a connection assembly. The aiming arm has a rigid body extending from a proximal end to a distal end with a plurality of aiming holes defined through the rigid body between the proximal end and the distal end thereof. The distal end defines an attachment slot through the body. The connection assembly is configured to engage an attachment screw hole of the bone plate and the attachment slot such that the aiming arm is fixed in position relative to the bone plate with each of the aiming holes aligned with a respective hole along the bone plate.