Monolithic Implant Card for Selective Bone Plate Detachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current bone plating systems require multi-component kits that are costly, pose sterilization and inventory management challenges, and necessitate significant labor for re-inventorying partially used kits, especially for procedures like craniotomy.
Innovation Solution
A single, integral monolithic metallic or polymeric implant card with variably sized and configured bone plates attached via thin webs, allowing for selective removal during surgery, manufactured using techniques like machining, molding, or additive manufacturing, with features like recesses for easy cutting and integral placement handles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multi-component kits are used to provide plates of various sizes and shapes, then anatomical conformity and surgical versatility are improved, but cost, sterilization complexity, and inventory management burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple separate bone plates of different sizes and shapes are merged into a single monolithic implant card structure, allowing all plates to be provided in one integrated component rather than as separate kit elements
Solution Approach 2:
The implant card serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a storage medium, a selection guide, and the delivery mechanism for multiple bone plates, eliminating the need for separate kit components
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple plates are provided in separate kits, then surgical options are improved, but sterilization and re-inventory labor increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple bone plates that would traditionally require separate sterilization and inventory tracking are combined into a single pre-sterilized implant card unit, eliminating repeated sterilization cycles and simplifying inventory to a single item
Solution Approach 2:
All plates are pre-assembled on the implant card in a predetermined configuration before sterilization, allowing the entire assembly to be sterilized once rather than requiring post-sterilization assembly in the operating room
3Ease of operation
If plates are integrally attached to the implant card via thin webs, then ease of selective removal is improved, but structural stability during handling may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The connection between plates and implant card varies locally: thin webs provide easy detachment where needed, while thicker structural regions maintain overall card stability during handling and storage
Solution Approach 2:
The implant card is segmented into distinct plate regions connected by thin webs, allowing individual plates to be selectively removed while the remaining structure maintains integrity
Data Source
AI summary
A bone plating system and implant card having at least one or a plurality of plates. The bone plating system and implant card has a card member or support having the at least one or a plurality of plates that are integrally, monolithically, or otherwise formed in or adhered to the card member so that the at least one or plurality of plates can be detached or removed from the card member manually or with a cutting instrument or tool. In one illustrative embodiment, the card member comprises a plurality of different plates that are the necessary plates for a single surgical procedure, such as a craniotomy. The bone plating system or implant card allows for selection of plates of varying sizes, shapes and configurations in a single card member, which could be generally planar or could also be non-planar or lie in a plane that is not flat.