Customized Surgical Guide Unique Implant Fit

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Solution Overview

Problem

The accuracy of placing bone implants during surgical procedures is compromised due to limited visibility and the potential for misplacement, even with customized implants, as existing surgical guides do not ensure a unique and stable fit between the implant, guide, and bone.

Innovation Solution

A customized surgical guide with patient-specific bone and implant contacting surfaces ensures a unique fit, comprising a body with implant contacting surfaces for the implant and bone contacting surfaces for the bone, facilitating accurate placement and stabilization, and optionally including screw and drill guiding features for precise fixation.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If a surgeon uses a conventional surgical guide during implantation, then the surgical procedure can be performed, but the implant may be misplaced due to limited visibility and lack of unique fit

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimplant placement accuracyVSAvoidvisibility during surgery
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The surgical guide is designed and manufactured before the surgical procedure based on pre-operative imaging and planning. The guide incorporates patient-specific bone contacting surfaces that are custom-formed to match the patient's anatomy, ensuring accurate implant placement is achieved before the surgeon even enters the operating room. This preliminary customization eliminates the need for complex intraoperative adjustments and maintains good visibility by minimizing the extent of bone exposure required.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The surgical guide acts as an intermediary device between the implant and the bone. It features an implant contacting surface that interfaces with the implant and a patient-specific bone contacting surface that interfaces with the bone, creating a unique and stable fit. This intermediary guide ensures accurate positioning and transfer of the predetermined implant location to the actual surgical site, resolving the contradiction between placement accuracy and surgical visibility.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If an implant is designed to fit the bone surface, then customization is achieved, but misplacement can still occur due to limited visibility and lack of unique fit

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecustomized fitVSAvoidimplant placement accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The solution segments the fitting function into two separate components: the implant with its bone contacting surface, and the surgical guide with its patient-specific bone contacting surface and implant contacting surface. This segmentation allows the guide to provide the unique fit and positioning accuracy, while the implant maintains its customized design for functional adaptation to the bone. The guide acts as a separate positioning element that ensures precise placement even when the implant alone does not provide a unique fit.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The surgical guide serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the customized implant and the patient-specific bone surface. By incorporating both an implant contacting surface and a patient-specific bone contacting surface, the guide ensures a unique and stable fit that accurately positions the implant at the predetermined location, overcoming the limitations of relying solely on implant customization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Manufacturing precision

If the surgeon uncovers more bone to improve visibility, then placement accuracy may improve, but the number and extent of cuts increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimplant placement accuracyVSAvoidnumber of cuts
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

All necessary positioning information and anatomical references are captured during pre-operative imaging and planning phases. The surgical guide is manufactured in advance with patient-specific surfaces that encode this information, eliminating the need for extensive bone exposure or multiple reference cuts during surgery. The guide provides all necessary alignment information upfront, maintaining placement accuracy while minimizing surgical intervention.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The surgical guide creates a physical copy or replica of the predetermined implant position and orientation based on pre-operative digital planning. The patient-specific bone contacting surface of the guide is formed to match the actual bone surface geometry, creating a unique fit that accurately reproduces the planned implant placement without requiring the surgeon to make multiple cuts or expose extensive bone surfaces for alignment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP2996635B1Customized surgical guide
Publication Date: 2018.09.26 MATERIALISE NV
  • EP2996635B1 patent drawingFigure 1A~1B
  • EP2996635B1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B
  • EP2996635B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

Customized surgical guide for guiding a bone implant to a predetermined location on the bone during a surgical procedure, wherein the guide comprises a body comprising at least one implant contacting surface and at least one patient specific bone contacting surface, wherein the implant contacting surface is arranged to contact the implant for ensuring a unique and stable fit between the guide and the implant, and wherein the bone contacting surface is arranged to contact the bone for ensuring a unique and stable fit of a combination of the guide and the implant on the predetermined location on the bone.