Expandable Interspinous Device with Segmented Attachment Pads
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current interspinous implants between spinous processes lack effectiveness in maintaining vertebral stability and mobility, necessitating an improved device that can securely attach and stabilize adjacent vertebral bodies.
Innovation Solution
A spinal implant device with a spacer region and attachment pads that securely position between spinous processes, utilizing a locking mechanism and adjustable components to stabilize and expand the spinal canal, made from biologically compatible materials like PEEK, titanium, or stainless steel, and optionally packed with bone grafts for fusion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a simple spacer is used between spinous processes, then the device is easy to implant, but it fails to securely maintain vertebral stability and limit movement
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into multiple functional segments: a central spacer region for maintaining vertebral spacing, attachment regions with pads for securing to spinous processes, and fastening mechanisms. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function effectively while maintaining overall device reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates adjustable and expandable components that can adapt to different vertebral configurations. The attachment pads and fasteners can be adjusted during implantation to securely attach to the spinous processes, providing dynamic stability rather than rigid fixation.
2Volume of stationary object
If an expandable mechanism is added to the interspinous device, then the spinal canal size can be increased, but the device complexity and surgical procedure difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable mechanism uses nested components where one element is placed inside another. The spacer region can be expanded from a compressed delivery state to a larger functional state, with internal structures nested within each other to achieve expansion without requiring external actuators or complex mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes material properties and structural parameters that change under specific conditions. The expandable spacer changes its volume parameter in response to deployment forces, transitioning from a compact implantable form to an expanded stabilizing structure that increases spinal canal size.
3Reliability
If attachment pads with fasteners are used to secure the device, then the device reliably attaches to spinous processes, but the implantation procedure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment pads and fasteners are pre-configured and pre-assembled as integrated components before implantation. This preliminary preparation allows the surgeon to simply deploy the pre-assembled attachment mechanism rather than performing complex assembly steps during surgery, maintaining ease of operation while ensuring reliable attachment.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a device that is configured to be implanted adjacent interspinous processes of a patient. In one aspect, a spinal implant device comprises: a spacer region adapted to be positioned between first and second spinous processes of first and second vertebral bodies to limit movement of the first spinous process and the second spinous process toward one another; and an attachment region attached to the spacer region, the attachment region adapted to attach to the first spinous process via a fastener, the attachment region comprising a pair of pads having attachment elements that are configured to attach onto the spinous process.