Flexible Blade Anchor for Knee Prosthesis Bone Fixation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Knee joint prostheses often experience loosening or detachment from the bone over time, requiring costly and time-consuming revisions, necessitating more secure attachment features while maintaining strength, especially at bearing surfaces and articulation points.
Innovation Solution
A tibial anchoring assembly with a tibial tray and an anchor featuring a flexible blade member that compressively couples to the tibia bone, using a deforming fixture to insert and deform the blade member for secure attachment, providing a compressive force between the tray and bone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If mechanical retaining mechanisms are used to attach implant components to bone, then high strength and initial stability are achieved, but the implants become loose or detach from the bone over time
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor incorporates a flexible blade member that transitions from a compressed state during insertion to an expanded state after insertion, dynamically adapting to provide initial stability and long-term retention. The blade member expands within the bone cavity to engage with bone walls, creating a dynamic anchoring mechanism that maintains reliability over time
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor changes its physical parameters during deployment - the blade member transitions from a compressed configuration (during insertion through the tibial tray) to an expanded configuration (after insertion into bone). This parameter change enables the anchor to provide both initial stability during insertion and long-term retention through expansion within the bone cavity
2Reliability
If a flexible blade member is used to provide compressive force, then secure attachment and prevention of loosening are achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor is segmented into distinct functional components: a base portion that interfaces with the tibial tray and a flexible blade member that interfaces with the bone. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while simplifying the overall design - the blade member can be a simple flexible element rather than a complex mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor utilizes a flexible blade member made from a thin, flexible material that can be compressed during insertion and then expands within the bone cavity. This flexible element provides secure attachment through its expansion and engagement with bone walls without requiring complex mechanical structures, thereby maintaining simplicity while achieving reliability
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
Enhances the secure attachment of knee joint prostheses, reducing the likelihood of loosening and detachment, thereby minimizing the need for revisions and maintaining strength and stability at critical areas.
Implementation Method 1
The flexible blade member is adapted to be flexed in tension while being inserted into the tibia bone, thereby exerting a compressive force between the tibial tray and the associated tibia bone after the anchor is inserted
Implementation Method 2
The deforming fixture is adapted to receive the anchor and deform the flexible blade member while the anchor is being inserted into the tibia bone
Data Source
AI summary
A tibial anchoring assembly comprising a tibial tray and an anchor. The tibial tray comprises an upper surface for engagement with a femoral component and a lower surface for engagement with a tibia bone. The lower surface defines at least one retaining aperture. The anchor is adapted to compressively couple the tibial tray to the tibia bone. The anchor comprises a longitudinally extending base, a top section coupled to the base and having a shape to be received into the retaining aperture of the tibial tray, and a flexible blade member protruding from the base. The flexible blade member is adapted to be flexed in tension while being inserted into the tibia bone, thereby exerting a compressive force between the tibial tray and the tibia bone. A deforming fixture may be used to shape the flexible blade member. Methods of affixing an implant to a bone structure are also provided.