Expandable Device for Intravertebral Stabilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intravertebral stabilization techniques face challenges such as loss of support after balloon or instrument removal, inconsistent expansion results due to cancellous bone influence, and difficulty in controlling bone filler placement under high pressures with low viscosity.
Innovation Solution
The method involves delivering an expandable device to the vertebral body in an unexpanded condition, expanding it to restore vertebral height, removing the expandable element, and maintaining the expanded device to provide support, allowing bone filler placement within the expanded cavity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a balloon or mechanical instrument is used for intravertebral reduction, then vertebral fracture reduction can be achieved, but loss of support occurs when the balloon or instrument is removed
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable device is positioned and expanded before bone cement is injected. The device maintains the reduced vertebral height and provides structural support during the cement injection process, ensuring that the reduction is maintained throughout the procedure. This preliminary establishment of support structure prevents loss of reduction when the temporary balloon or instrument is removed.
Solution Approach 2:
The expandable device serves as an intermediary between the temporary reduction instrument and the final bone cement support. It transfers and maintains the reduction force applied by the mechanical instrument, then provides continuous support structure for the bone cement to fill into, ensuring sustained vertebral stabilization without relying solely on the temporary instrument or high-pressure cement injection.
2Strength
If balloons or expandable instruments are expanded in cancellous bone material, then vertebral reduction can be achieved, but inconsistent results occur due to bone material influence on expansion direction and degree
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable device incorporates a cavity with specific geometric features including a tapered portion and flared opening that create localized expansion zones. The device can be expanded to different degrees at different locations along its length, allowing controlled and consistent reduction at the target vertebral fracture site while accommodating variations in surrounding bone density and structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The device transitions from a compressed delivery configuration to an expanded support configuration, allowing dynamic adaptation to the vertebral anatomy. The expandable structure enables controlled expansion in specific directions and degrees, providing consistent reduction results despite variations in cancellous bone material properties by allowing the device to conform to and control the expansion process.
3Quantity of substance
If bone filler is injected under high pressures with low viscosity, then bone filler can be placed in the void, but difficulty in controlling and targeting the filler material occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable device is expanded and positioned in the vertebral body before bone cement injection. This creates a pre-formed cavity with defined geometry and boundaries that guides and contains the bone filler material during injection, eliminating the need for high-pressure injection and improving control over filler placement and distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The expanded device acts as an intermediary structure that facilitates bone filler placement. It provides a controlled cavity environment that receives the bone cement, allowing low-pressure injection with improved material control. The device walls define the filler boundaries and guide its distribution, making the filler material easier to control and target compared to direct high-pressure injection into the vertebral body.
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
This approach provides controlled and repeatable compression of cancellous bone, maintains vertebral reduction, and facilitates consistent bone filler placement, offering immediate and long-term support for fractured or deformed vertebrae.
Implementation Method 1
expanding the expandable device in the vertebral body with an expandable element... compress cancellous bone in the intravertebral space
Implementation Method 2
expanding the expandable device with an expandable element in the expandable device to restore a vertebral body height
Data Source
AI summary
Expandable devices include a body defining a hollow interior for receiving distal portion of a delivery instrument. The expandable devices are collapsed on the distal portion of the delivery instrument for delivery to the operative site within a vertebral body. Upon delivery of the collapsed expandable devices to the operative site, the distal portion of the delivery instrument is enlargeable to expand the expandable device in situ for implantation at the operative site.