Flexible Surgical Curette Tips for Endplate Contouring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical instruments for soft tissue removal from bony structures, such as those used in discectomy procedures, often cause excessive or inadequate tissue removal, endplate damage, and require frequent maintenance, failing to conform to anatomical variations and increasing the risk of nerve damage.
Innovation Solution
Development of a surgical shaving instrument with flexible, pre-sterile cutting tips made from metals and polymers that conform to bony anatomy, featuring adjustable blades and tynes that can pivot, allowing for self-adjusting angles and increased contact area to minimize endplate damage and reduce the number of insertions required for tissue removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If rigid cutting tools are used for soft tissue removal, then structural strength and durability are improved, but the ability to conform to anatomical variations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible cutting tips made from elastomeric materials that can deform and conform to the curvature of vertebral endplates and anatomical surfaces. This flexibility allows the cutting tip to adapt to varying anatomical geometries while maintaining sufficient structural integrity to perform cutting functions, directly resolving the contradiction between rigidity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the cutting tip by using elastomeric materials with specific viscoelastic properties. These material parameter changes enable the cutting tip to exhibit both flexibility for conformability and sufficient strength for cutting, allowing the same component to satisfy both opposing requirements.
2Ease of operation
If conventional rigid curettes or rakes are used, then ease of operation is maintained, but the contact area with endplate is reduced causing increased effort and more insertions
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible cutting tip conforms to the endplate surface, maximizing the contact area between the cutting edge and the tissue to be removed. This increased contact area distributes the cutting force over a larger area, reducing the effort required per insertion and improving operational efficiency while maintaining ease of use.
3Productivity
If multiple insertions are made to remove disc material, then complete tissue removal is achieved, but the risk of nerve damage and endplate injury increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible cutting tip conforms to the anatomical contours of the endplate and disc tissue, allowing complete tissue removal in fewer insertions. This conformability ensures that the cutting edge maintains optimal contact with the tissue throughout the cutting motion, improving completeness while reducing the number of times the instrument must be inserted into the disc space, thereby lowering the risk of nerve injury.
4Device complexity
If disposable cutting tips are used, then manufacturing complexity is reduced and sterility is ensured, but blade sharpness consistency must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable cutting tips made from elastomeric materials that are pre-sterilized and discarded after single use. This approach simplifies manufacturing by eliminating the need for complex re-sharpening mechanisms and maintenance systems, while the elastomeric material properties ensure consistent cutting performance throughout the disposable life of the tip.
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 cutting tips reduce the likelihood of endplate damage, decrease the effort needed for tissue removal, and minimize the risk of nerve damage by conforming to anatomical variations and providing a larger contact area, thus improving surgical safety and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the blade is adapted to flex in response to a conventional level of force used by a spinal surgeon in shaving cartilaginous tissue from an endplate of a disc space with a curette
Data Source
AI summary
Surgical curettes or rakes with cutting edges conform or deflect to allow for contouring that follows the bony anatomy. The cutting tips can be pre-sterile, disposable and made from flexible materials including metals and polymers. The disposable tips ensure that a sharp cutting edge is exposed to the endplate for each procedure. The tips can also be adjusted to change the size of the cutting surface and window for retaining shaved disc material. The tips can pivot to provide for a self adjusting angle that allows the cutting edge to have full contact with the endplate at various angles like the pivot on a disposable razor blade.