Expandable All-Suture Anchor for Bone Pocket Interference
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional all-suture suture anchors rely on friction for securement, which can lead to slippage and inadequate pull-out strength, especially when deployed in harder bone surfaces, resulting in potential damage from loose anchor components within the joint.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a uniquely constructed all-suture anchor and specialized inserter, along with a drill that creates a pocket under the bone surface to accommodate anchor expansion, ensuring mechanical interference and enhanced pull-out strength, similar to traditional screw-in anchors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If traditional all-suture suture anchors rely on friction for securement, then the anchor can be inserted into a smaller hole preserving bone, but the anchor may slip and pull out especially in harder bone surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The drill creates a pocket cavity in advance before anchor insertion. This preliminary action prepares a containment space that will later hold the expanded anchor, preventing slippage and pullout while maintaining the bone preservation benefit of using a smaller initial hole
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor is designed with expandable sections that can be divided into multiple segments. When deployed, these sections expand laterally to fill the pocket cavity, creating mechanical interference and increasing securement strength without requiring a larger initial hole
2Strength
If the anchor is designed to expand laterally against the bone wall, then pull-out strength may improve, but the anchor may move to harder bone surfaces causing slippage
Solution Approach 1:
The drill creates a localized pocket cavity with specific dimensional characteristics that differ from the surrounding bone. The anchor expands to fill this localized region, creating mechanical interference that prevents movement to harder bone surfaces while maintaining pull-out strength
Solution Approach 2:
The pocket cavity acts as an intermediary structure between the anchor and the hard bone surface. It provides a compliant containment space that accommodates anchor expansion and prevents direct contact with hard bone surfaces that could cause slippage
3Shape
If opening sections are designed to swing outward to achieve expansion dimensions, then the bunching effect may improve, but the soft suture is not stiff enough to penetrate the hole to achieve such dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The drill creates a pocket cavity in advance that provides the necessary space for anchor expansion. This preliminary action eliminates the need for the suture to be stiff enough to penetrate deep into bone, as the anchor expands within the pre-created cavity instead
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor expansion is redirected from a deep penetration dimension to a lateral expansion dimension within the pocket cavity. The opening sections swing outward laterally to fill the cavity volume, achieving the bunching effect without requiring excessive suture stiffness or penetration depth
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 system provides consistent and predictable anchor deployment with superior pull-out strength, reducing the risk of anchor slippage and damage from loose components within the joint, while maintaining the bone preservation benefits of all-suture anchors.
Implementation Method 1
The created pocket is intended to accommodate the expansion of the anchor when deployed into the bone, generating a true mechanical interference under the bone surface
Implementation Method 2
This tensioning step causes the length of the anchor to contract vertically and the anchor is simultaneously expanded circumferentially to fill the pocket previously created by the drill
Data Source
AI summary
An all-suture suture anchor system includes an all-suture anchor, an inserter, and a specially designed drill. The drill is used to enlarge the hole and create a pocket under the bone surface from the pre-drilled hole. The created pocket is intended to accommodate the expansion of the anchor when deployed into the bone, generating a true mechanical interference under the bone surface. The anchor is loaded on the inserter and placed at full length vertically inside the drilled hole. While holding the inserter on top of the drilled hole, so that a feature on the inserter keeps the anchor to a desired depth below the bone surface, tension is applied to the suture limb that is connected to the bottom end of the anchor. This tensioning step causes the length of the anchor to contract vertically and the anchor is simultaneously expanded circumferentially to fill the pocket previously created by the drill. Since the pocket created by the drill is intended to contain the deployed anchor, the deployed position of the anchor is consistently predictable.