Flexible Surgical Access Port for Temporary Radial Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rigid surgical access ports require larger incisions and can damage surrounding tissue, as they are sized for the largest instrument used during a procedure, leading to unnecessary deformation and potential harm to sensitive neural tissue.
Innovation Solution
A flexible surgical access port with a collar and a flexible body that expands radially to accommodate larger instruments, minimizing tissue deformation by expanding only when necessary and returning to its original configuration once the instrument has passed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If rigid access ports of fixed size are used, then the access port can accommodate the largest instrument, but the incision size increases and surrounding tissue is damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The access port transitions from a rigid fixed-size structure to a dynamic flexible structure that can change its diameter. The flexible body allows the port to expand when a large instrument is passed through and then contract back to its original smaller size, adapting to different instrument sizes during the procedure.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of the access port (diameter) is changed from fixed to variable. The port can temporarily increase its diameter to accommodate large instruments like intervertebral implants and then return to its original smaller diameter, allowing the same port to handle both small and large instruments at different times.
2Ease of operation
If rigid access ports are sized for the largest instrument, then the instrument can pass through, but tissue deformation is maximized for the entire procedure duration
Solution Approach 1:
The access port undergoes periodic size changes rather than maintaining a constantly large size. It expands temporarily when a large instrument needs to pass through and then contracts back to its smaller size, reducing the duration of tissue deformation to only when absolutely necessary.
3Ease of operation
If larger incisions are made for rigid ports, then access to surgical site is improved, but trauma to patient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The incision size requirement is dynamically reduced because the access port itself is flexible. A smaller incision can be made initially, and the flexible port can still accommodate large instruments when needed without requiring a proportionally large incision, thereby reducing patient trauma.
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 flexible port allows larger instruments to pass through with minimal tissue damage, reducing trauma and maintaining access without prolonged nerve compression.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible body that extends from the collar along a central axis, the flexible surgical access port defining a lumen along an entirety of its length... configured to expand and contract in a radial direction
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible surgical access port is provided that includes a flexible body. The flexible body is configured to elastically expand in response to passage of a surgical equipment therethrough, and thus retracts as the surgical equipment moves past. Thus, the flexible body can provide a surgical access path through Kambin's Triangle, and large surgical equipment passed through the flexible body does not compress the exiting nerve or the traversing nerve root for a prolonged period of time.