Intervertebral Cage with Movable Cam for Bone Substitute Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intervertebral cages face challenges in manipulating and ensuring proper contact between bone substitutes and vertebrae for effective fusion, due to small dimensions and difficult access, leading to laborious filling and inconsistent contact.
Innovation Solution
An intervertebral cage design with a movable cam that pushes a deformable bone substitute through openings to ensure intimate contact with vertebrae, facilitating the creation of a bone bridge, while also spacing the plates for anchoring, allowing for easier insertion and controlled deformation of the bone substitute.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the cage is made with small dimensions to fit narrow intervertebral spaces, then it can be inserted into degenerated disc spaces, but it becomes difficult to manipulate and fill with bone substitute
Solution Approach 1:
The bone substitute is pre-placed in the internal space of the cage before insertion between the vertebrae. This preliminary action eliminates the difficult and laborious manipulation of filling the cage with bone substitute after insertion, while maintaining the small dimensions needed for narrow intervertebral spaces.
Solution Approach 2:
A movable cam is introduced as an intermediary element between the plates to push the bone substitute out of the through openings and into contact with the vertebrae. This mediator enables the small cage to achieve proper bone substitute distribution without requiring large manipulation space.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the bone substitute is filled into the internal space after cage insertion, then the cage can be adapted to the vertebrae, but the filling operation becomes laborious and imprecise
Solution Approach 1:
The bone substitute is pre-positioned in the internal space before cage insertion, allowing the cage to be inserted as a complete assembly. This maintains adaptability while dramatically improving filling efficiency by eliminating the separate filling step.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable cam mechanism enables the cage to self-adjust and self-distribute the bone substitute into contact with the vertebrae after insertion, eliminating the need for manual filling operations and achieving both adaptability and efficiency.
3Ease of operation
If the plates are kept close together for insertion, then it is easier to insert the cage, but the bone substitute cannot be properly compressed into contact with vertebrae
Solution Approach 1:
The plates are designed to be movable relative to each other, allowing them to be close together during insertion for ease of operation, then moved apart by the cam mechanism to compress the bone substitute into precise contact with the vertebrae. This dynamic design resolves the contradiction between insertion ease and contact precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone substitute is pre-placed in the internal space before the plates are separated, allowing it to be compressed into contact with the vertebrae when the plates are moved apart by the cam, achieving precise contact without difficulty during insertion.
4Volume of stationary object
If the internal space is large to accommodate bone substitute, then filling is easier, but the cage cannot fit into narrow degenerated disc spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The bone substitute is pre-positioned in the internal space before cage insertion, allowing the cage to have small dimensions suitable for narrow intervertebral spaces while still accommodating the bone substitute without requiring large internal volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable cam acts as an intermediary that compresses the bone substitute into the available internal space and pushes it into contact with the vertebrae, enabling proper bone substitute distribution in the small internal space of narrow cages.
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
This design simplifies the insertion and anchoring process, ensures consistent contact between the bone substitute and vertebrae, and enhances the quality of vertebral fusion by allowing controlled deformation and distribution of the bone substitute, reducing the complexity of filling the internal space.
Implementation Method 1
a deformable bone substitute occupying the space internally so as to come into contact with the vertebrae to create a bone bridge, the bone substitute being present in the internal space in the insertion position
Implementation Method 2
the cam is movable between the vertebrae so as to push the bone substitute out of the through openings of the plates in intimate contact with the vertebrae to promote the creation of the bone bridge
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The cage has an upper plate (1) in contact with an upper vertebra, and a lower plate (2) in contact with a lower vertebra, where the plates respectively comprise through openings (14, 24) that create an internal space (E). A movable cam (5) is provided between the plates. A deformable bone substitute (4) occupies the internal space so as to engage vertebrae bones to create an osseous bridge (3). The bone substitute is present in the internal space in an insertion position.