Anatomic Femoral Drill Guide for ACL Tunnel Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical techniques for ACL reconstruction face challenges in accurately positioning and visualizing bone tunnels due to limited visibility and manipulative capabilities in the joint area between the tibia and femur, making it difficult to identify the size and location of femoral bone tunnels.
Innovation Solution
An anatomic femoral guide device with a template that allows visualization of the ACL footprint and provides a method to approximate the size and location of bone tunnels, featuring a flattened, low-profile construction that orients apertures for parallel alignment with the tibial plateau and an offset angle for double bundle procedures, enabling precise placement of single and double bundle tunnels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional surgical techniques are used for ACL reconstruction, then the procedure can be performed, but accurate positioning and visualization of bone tunnels is difficult due to limited visibility and manipulative capabilities in the joint area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a guide device as an intermediary tool between the surgeon and the bone tunnel drilling process. The guide device includes a template with apertures that are positioned against the femur, providing a visual reference framework that mediates the positioning process. This intermediary tool bridges the gap between the surgeon's limited direct visibility and the requirement for precise tunnel placement by providing external visual cues through the template apertures that represent the desired tunnel locations and orientations.
Solution Approach 2:
The template in the guide device creates a visual copy or representation of the desired bone tunnel configuration on the femoral surface. The apertures in the template are positioned and oriented to replicate the target tunnel locations, allowing the surgeon to visualize the final tunnel arrangement before actually drilling. This copying approach enables accurate positioning by transferring the abstract surgical plan into a concrete visual model that can be directly observed and manipulated in the limited surgical field.
2Measurement precision
If a template guide is used to visualize bone tunnel placement, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional components required for visualization and positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into a single integrated guide device structure. The template is merged with the insertion member assembly, creating a unified tool that simultaneously provides visualization (through template apertures) and insertion guidance (through the aligned insertion members). This merging eliminates the need for separate positioning tools and insertion guides, reducing the overall number of components while maintaining the visualization and positioning capabilities. The template and insertion members work together as a coordinated system rather than independent elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide device is designed with multi-functionality to reduce complexity. The same template structure serves multiple purposes: it provides visual reference for tunnel location, defines tunnel orientation through aperture arrangement, and guides the insertion members. The insertion members themselves serve dual functions of both positioning (through their alignment with template apertures) and actual bone access. This multi-functional design allows a single device structure to perform what would otherwise require multiple separate tools, thereby managing complexity while achieving comprehensive visualization and positioning capabilities.
Data Source
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AI summary
An anatomic femoral guide positions bone tunnels corresponding to the AM and PL bundles in ACL repair and reconstruction procedures. A template guide disposed in a surgical field proximate to a surgical member such as a femur or tibia defines a surgical footprint of the resulting bone tunnel. The template includes apertures corresponding to the size of the bone tunnels for the respective (AM or PL) bundles, and allows positioning at the drilling site to identify the size and location of the bone tunnel, as well as the relative distance between tunnels for double bundle procedures. An offset angle in the template provides differing orientations of the template apertures for visualizing the actual bone tunnel placement. The template has an aperture positionable parallel to a tibial plateau formation on the tibia, and the template orients a second aperture angled by the offset angle for positioning the second tunnel.