Bone Screw Deployment Device for Minimally Invasive Spinal Fusion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spinal surgeries for conditions like spinal stenosis and facet arthropathy are invasive, costly, and often require re-operation, with existing methods failing to provide a minimally invasive solution for facet joint fusion.
Innovation Solution
A bone anchor deployment device with a flexible shaft and guide system that allows for minimally invasive deployment of a spinal facet cage implant and anchoring with a bone screw, facilitating facet joint fusion through a posterior approach.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional spinal surgery methods are used to treat spinal stenosis and facet arthropathy, then the surgery can address the spinal conditions, but the surgery is highly invasive and requires long recovery times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible shaft that can bend along a deployment trajectory to access the facet joint through a minimally invasive percutaneous approach. This flexible access method allows delivery of the implant and bone anchor deployment device through small incisions rather than open surgery, reducing tissue damage and recovery time while maintaining treatment effectiveness
2Reliability
If anterior approach spinal fusion surgery is performed for cervical disc herniations, then the surgery can treat the condition, but the surgery changes the biomechanics of the neck and may require re-operation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using the traditional anterior approach that fuses vertebrae together, this patent employs a posterior approach that places a facet joint implant between the articular surfaces of the facet joint. This inverted approach preserves natural vertebral movement and biomechanics while treating cervical disc herniations, eliminating the need for re-operation due to biomechanical changes
3Loss of time
If a minimally invasive percutaneous procedure is used for facet joint fusion, then recovery time is reduced, but the procedure requires precise deployment of bone anchors at non-coaxial positions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a deployment device with a guide shaft and elongated tube as an intermediary system to achieve precise bone anchor placement. The guide passage extends through the elongated tube with a channel oriented at an angle, and a window provides an opening to guide the flexible shaft and bone anchor along the correct trajectory. This intermediary deployment mechanism enables accurate non-coaxial bone anchor placement through minimally invasive access, reducing recovery time while maintaining the precision required for proper facet joint fusion
Data Source
AI summary
Implementations described and claimed herein provide a bone anchor deployment device. In one implementation, the bone anchor deployment device includes a flexible shaft adapted to bend along a deployment trajectory. A socket at the distal end of the flexible shaft is adapted to retain a bone anchor in a non-coaxial position. The bone anchor deployment device further includes a guide shaft having a lumen and a distal tip and an elongated tube extending through at least a portion of the guide shaft lumen and protruding from the distal tip of the guide shaft. A guide passage extends through a lumen of the elongated tube, and a channel is formed from a surface at a distal end of the guide passage. The channel is oriented at an angle relative to the guide passage and is adapted to cause the flexible shaft to bend.