Dynamic Spinal Stabilization Device with Flexible Rod
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spinal stabilization techniques often require open surgical procedures, leading to higher costs, longer hospital stays, and patient pain, and there is a need for methods that allow for dynamic stabilization while minimizing invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
A method and kit for dynamic spinal stabilization that involves advancing a stabilization device into a pedicle of a vertebral body, with a proximal portion positioned to limit movement between vertebral bodies, using a minimally invasive approach, and including orthopedic fixation devices with specific retention structures to resist distal movement while allowing proximal movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If open surgical procedures are used for spinal stabilization, then effective stabilization is achieved, but patient pain, hospital stay duration, and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible rod that can be inserted through a minimally invasive approach to stabilize the spine. The flexible rod allows for dynamic stabilization while reducing surgical trauma compared to rigid fixation systems, thereby decreasing patient pain and hospital stay duration while maintaining stabilization effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a flexible rod as an intermediary element that connects and stabilizes vertebrae without requiring direct rigid fixation. This intermediary approach enables stabilization through minimally invasive procedures, reducing the harmful effects of open surgery while achieving the desired clinical outcome
2Stability of the object's composition
If rigid fixation systems are used to stabilize vertebrae, then spinal stability is improved, but natural spinal motion is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible rod that provides dynamic stabilization rather than rigid fixation. The flexible material allows the rod to bend and accommodate natural spinal movements while maintaining stability, thereby preserving adaptability and natural motion while achieving the required spinal stability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of the fixation element from rigid to flexible. This parameter change allows the stabilization system to adapt to natural spinal motion while maintaining stability, resolving the contradiction between stability and adaptability
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus of limiting at least one degree of movement between a superior vertebral body, an inferior vertebral body, and an intermediate vertebral body that is disposed between the superior and inferior vertebral bodies of a patient. The method can comprise: advancing a distal end of a stabilization device into a pedicle of the intermediate vertebral body; positioning a proximal portion of the stabilization device such that the proximal portion limits at least one degree of movement between the superior vertebral body and the intermediate vertebral body by contacting a surface of the superior vertebral body; and advancing a distal end of a fixation device into a facet of the intermediate vertebral body and into a facet or pedicle of the inferior vertebral body for stabilizing the intermediate vertebral body and the inferior vertebral body.