Bone Plate Hook Guiding Opening for Fracture Fixation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current hook plates used for fixing small terminal bone fragments, such as in fracture fixation of the lateral malleolus, lack an efficient mechanism for guiding and attaching the plate to the bone fragment, leading to suboptimal fixation and potential instability.
Innovation Solution
A bone plate system with an elongated guiding member and a hook portion that includes a guiding opening to receive the guiding member, allowing the plate to be accurately positioned and attached to the bone fragment, featuring hooks for grasping and attachment openings for screws, enabling precise fixation and compression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hook plate is used to fix small terminal bone fragments, then fracture fixation is achieved, but the lack of an efficient guiding mechanism results in suboptimal fixation and potential instability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing a guiding member that is inserted into the bone fragment before the hook plate is attached. The guiding member pre-establishes the correct position and orientation, allowing the hook plate to be accurately positioned and attached to the bone fragment, thereby resolving the guiding mechanism deficiency and improving fixation stability
Solution Approach 2:
The guiding member acts as an intermediary between the surgeon and the bone fragment during the attachment process. It mediates the positioning by providing a physical guide that ensures accurate placement of the hook plate, thereby improving both the ease of operation and the reliability of fixation
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple attachment openings are provided in the body portion, then the hook plate can be attached to bone, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guiding member serves multiple functions: it guides the hook plate to the correct position, provides a reference for attachment, and can itself be used for fixation. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate guiding devices and simplifies the overall device complexity while maintaining attachment flexibility
Data Source
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AI summary
A bone plate for fixing bone fragments to bone is provided. The bone plate comprises an elongated body portion as well as a hook portion. The elongated body portion comprises an attachment opening configured to receive an attachment element for attaching the bone plate to bone. The hook portion extends from an end of the body portion and comprises one or more hooks configured to grasp a bone fragment. Additionally, at least one guiding opening is provided in the hook portion to receive an elongated guiding member for guiding the bone plate towards the bone fragment.