Drill Guide Assembly with Asymmetric Bone Plate Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drill guides for spinal surgery lack adequate soft tissue protection and fail to securely attach to bone plates, leading to potential tissue damage and instability during anterior spinal procedures due to lateral or rotational movement.
Innovation Solution
A surgical drill guide assembly with a handle and plate-engaging mechanism that securely attaches to a bone plate, resisting rotational movement, and provides tissue protection through a guide sleeve that accepts surgical tools, allowing precise alignment and minimizing workspace requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional drill guides are used for anterior spinal surgery, then the surgical procedure can be performed, but adequate soft tissue protection is not provided and the drill guide does not securely attach to the bone plate
Solution Approach 1:
The drill guide assembly nests multiple functional components within a unified structure: the bone plate engagement mechanism is integrated with the drill guide body, which in turn contains the guide tube. This nested configuration ensures secure attachment to the bone plate while maintaining proper alignment and providing soft tissue protection through the guide tube barrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The drill guide assembly acts as an intermediary device between the surgeon's drilling tools and the patient's soft tissues. By positioning the guide tube as an intermediate barrier, the system protects vulnerable soft tissues from direct contact with drilling instruments while still enabling precise screw placement through the guide tube's opening.
2Stability of the object's composition
If conventional drill guides are used, then the procedure can be performed, but lateral or rotational movement of the plate occurs during surgery
Solution Approach 1:
The bone plate engagement mechanism utilizes asymmetric geometry to prevent rotational movement. The engagement features are designed with non-symmetric profiles that mate correspondingly with the bone plate, creating a configuration that resists rotation around the longitudinal axis while maintaining stable attachment during drilling operations.
3Reliability
If a secure plate-engaging mechanism is implemented, then rotational movement is prevented, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The design merges the attachment function and alignment function into a single integrated bone plate engagement mechanism. This combined mechanism simultaneously secures the drill guide to the bone plate and prevents rotational movement, eliminating the need for separate attachment devices and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A drill guide has a handle for holding and is configured to actuate a plate-engaging mechanism. An elongated member extends between proximal and distal portions with the proximal portion associated with the handle portion and the distal portion associated with the plate-engaging mechanism. The plate-engaging mechanism is actuated by an actuating member actuated by the second handle portion. The drill guide includes at least one guide sleeve rotatably coupled to the elongated member by a proximal and distal coupler. Furthermore, the plate-engaging mechanism includes a bone plate-engaging portion configured to couple with a bone plate when the second handle portion is moved in a first direction with respect to said first handle portion.