Expandable Braided Suture Anchor for Bone Fixation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Suture anchors face challenges such as lower fixation strength, difficulty in setting, laxity, creep, and micro-motion over time, leading to suboptimal healing environments due to issues like loosening and gap formation in tissue repairs.
Innovation Solution
A suture anchor design featuring an elongate anchor body that can expand and swell in response to an aqueous environment, utilizing an actuation member to increase thickness and enhance fixation strength, reduce laxity, and promote bone ingrowth, thereby stabilizing the repair site.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If suture anchors are made from soft and pliable textile suture material, then they fit within smaller pre-drilled holes in bone, but their fixation strength is lower compared to other anchor types
Solution Approach 1:
The suture anchor transitions from a compressed, low-profile state during insertion to an expanded, high-strength state after deployment. The braided tails are initially compact to fit through small drill holes, then expand radially outward to engage the bone wall, providing dynamic adaptation between size and strength requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor undergoes parameter changes by transitioning from a compressed configuration with small radial dimensions to an expanded configuration with increased radial thickness. This parameter transformation allows the same material to achieve both small insertion profile and large engagement surface area for enhanced fixation strength
2Strength
If suture anchors are designed to be expandable, then fixation strength can be improved, but difficulty in setting and achieving expansion in hard bone material increases
Solution Approach 1:
The suture anchor is pre-configured with braided tails that are ready to expand upon deployment. The braided structure is pre-formed to allow radial expansion when tension is applied to the suture, eliminating the need for complex expansion mechanisms or additional setting steps during surgery
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor expands automatically through self-service mechanism when the suture is tensioned. The braided tails inherently expand radially outward when pulled taut, requiring no external actuation device, motor, or complex setting procedure - the act of tightening the suture itself performs the expansion function
3Device complexity
If suture anchors remain static after insertion, then the procedure is simple, but laxity, creep, and micro-motion occur over time leading to loosening
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor transitions from a static insertion state to a dynamic locked state. Once the suture is tensioned and the braided tails expand against the bone wall, friction and mechanical interlocking provide dynamic stability that actively resists loosening, creep, and micro-motion throughout the healing period
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor provides mechanical feedback through friction and contact pressure between the expanded braided tails and the bone wall. This continuous mechanical feedback counteracts forces that would otherwise cause laxity or loosening, automatically adjusting to maintain stable fixation as tissue heals and loads change
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The expandable and swellable suture anchor provides improved retention strength, reduces loosening and micro-motion, and creates a more stable healing environment by increasing compression and promoting bone integration.
Implementation Method 1
The anchor body is configured to swell along the transverse anchor direction so as to increase the total thickness responsive to exposure to an aqueous environment
Implementation Method 2
The suture is configured to contract along the longitudinal suture direction responsive to tension applied to the suture
Implementation Method 3
The actuation member is configured to apply a tensile force to the anchor body so as to actuate the anchor body from a first configuration to an expanded configuration
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C~1D
Figure 1E~1G
AI summary
A suture anchor for fixation within an anatomical structure includes an actuation member in contact with an anchor body at a first location thereof. The anchor body is elongate along a direction of elongation and defines a central axis. In a neutral configuration, the anchor body is flat and defines a thickness along a transverse direction and a width along a lateral direction, the width being greater than the thickness. The anchor body has first and second tails that are braided together along a portion of the actuation member from the first location to a second location of the anchor body. The actuation member is configured to apply a force to the braided anchor body so as to actuate the anchor body in a manner increasing its maximum thickness along a second direction that is angularly offset from the direction of elongation.