Circular Tracker Removal Tool That Preserves Array Registration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for removing circular trackers from tracking arrays during navigation-assisted surgeries risk disturbing the array, leading to loss of tracking registration and potential tracker loss in the patient body.
Innovation Solution
A tool with a tubular body and driver tube featuring circumferentially open apertures that cooperate to lift the tracker off the post without applying force to the array, minimizing disturbance and tracker loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If trackers are removed by hand during surgery, then the removal operation can be performed, but the tracking array may be disturbed causing loss of registration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a specialized removal tool as an intermediary device between the surgeon's hand and the tracker. This tool includes a tubular body with a driver tube that interfaces with the tracker's post, allowing force application to the tracker without direct hand contact that could disturb the tracking array. The intermediary tool provides controlled, precise force application while maintaining registration stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the force application point from the tracking array structure itself and relocates it to the removable tracker component. By designing the tool to apply force specifically to the tracker's post (through the driver tube engaging the post), the system separates the removal action from the array, preventing array disturbance while enabling tracker extraction.
2Productivity
If force is applied directly to the tracking array to remove trackers, then tracker removal is achieved, but the registration must be redone
Solution Approach 1:
The removal tool serves as an intermediary that transfers force from the surgeon to the tracker without involving the tracking array. The tubular body and driver tube create a force transmission path that bypasses the array structure, allowing efficient tracker removal while preserving the array's registered position, thus avoiding time-consuming re-registration.
3Ease of operation
If apertures are open during tracker removal, then the tracker can be accessed, but the tracker may be lost in the patient body
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic aperture control where the apertures in the tubular body and driver tube transition from an open state (allowing tracker access and insertion) to a closed state (securing the tracker). The driver tube's rotation relative to the tubular body dynamically opens and closes the apertures, enabling both easy tracker access during insertion and secure containment during removal, preventing tracker loss in the patient body.
Data Source
AI summary
A tool for removing circular trackers attached to tracking array posts. The tool includes a tubular body and a driver tube sized to be received in the tubular body. The distal portion of the tubular body and driver tube has respective first and second apertures that are circumferentially partially open in a lateral direction for receiving the circular tracker. The two apertures cooperate with each other such that when the second aperture is rotated relative to the first aperture, the circular tracker is enclosed within the driver tube and the tubular body for removal without pulling on the tracking array or the post.