Flexible Arthroscope for Hip Joint Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current arthroscopic techniques face challenges in accessing and visualizing the hip joint due to its complex anatomy, with significant portions remaining inaccessible through standard portal placements, increasing the risk of damage to delicate structures and limiting the effectiveness of minimally invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
The development of a medical device with a flexible, steerable design featuring a handle, a rigid outer tube, and a pre-bent flexible inner tube that can extend and retract to form an arcuate path, providing independent degrees of freedom such as linear translation, rotation, and curvilinear bending, allowing for enhanced access and visualization within the hip joint without the need to interchange portals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If standard portal placement positions are used for hip arthroscopy, then the procedure can be performed with conventional rigid instruments, but approximately half of the distended hip joint remains inaccessible and visualization is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible arthroscope with a curved distal end segment that can be iteratively manipulated to navigate the complex geometry of the hip joint. This curvature allows the scope to reach regions inaccessible to straight rigid instruments through standard portals, providing comprehensive visualization of the entire hip joint including previously hidden areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The arthroscope incorporates a flexible distal end segment with multiple degrees of freedom that can be dynamically adjusted during the procedure. The iterative manipulation capability allows real-time adaptation of the scope's position and orientation to access different regions of the hip joint, transforming a static instrument into a dynamically adaptable tool that overcomes the limitations of fixed portal placements.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional portals are established to access hidden regions, then complete visualization of the hip joint can be achieved, but the risk of damaging delicate surrounding structures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible arthroscope serves multiple functions through a single portal placement. It can visualize the entire hip joint, access regions previously requiring third portals, and provide comprehensive diagnostic and surgical capabilities without establishing additional entry points, thereby eliminating the associated risks to surrounding neurovascular structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible distal end segment acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the standard portal entry point and the hidden regions of the hip joint. This flexible mediator navigates the complex anatomy safely, allowing access to previously inaccessible areas without requiring direct portal placement in dangerous zones near the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, lateral femoral circumflex artery, and femoral neurovascular bundle.
3Adaptability or versatility
If 70 degree scopes and physically prying cannulas into contrived positions are used, then access to more regions is improved, but the access problem remains a significant hurdle and procedure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than using fixed-angle scopes that require complex portal configurations and physical manipulation of cannulas, the patent employs a dynamically flexible arthroscope that can be iteratively manipulated to achieve optimal positioning. This dynamic approach simplifies the overall system by eliminating the need for specialized fixed-angle instruments and complex portal setups, while still providing comprehensive access to all hip joint regions.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical device is provided, the device having a tubular outer body member with a handle at its proximal end and a flexible distal end segment extending from its distal end. The surgical device also has an operable end extending from the distal end of the flexible distal end segment. The device is configured for selectively causing the flexible end segment to bend to adopt a desired curvature and for selectively rotating the operable end relative to the flexible distal end segment about an axis of the flexible distal end segment.