Intramedullary Guide with Endoscopic Camera for Fracture Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Intramedullary nailing surgeries face challenges in the closed reduction of fractures due to the laborious and radiation-intensive use of x-ray machines, which requires numerous shots, increases surgery duration, and poses health risks to patients and personnel, while also being inefficient and costly.
Innovation Solution
An intramedullary cannulated guide equipped with an endoscopic camera that allows for real-time visualization and minimizes the need for x-ray machines by providing a flexible, modular, and sterilized shaft with a camera for precise alignment and reduction of bone parts, reducing the need for radiation and shielding measures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If x-ray machines are used for closed reduction of fractures, then the alignment of bone parts can be monitored, but the surgery duration increases and radiation exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the x-ray imaging system with an endoscopic camera system that provides direct visual feedback through the intramedullary guide. The endoscope transmits real-time images to a monitor, allowing the surgeon to observe bone alignment without ionizing radiation. This substitution of imaging modality eliminates the time-consuming sequence of x-ray shots while maintaining alignment monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The endoscopic camera creates a visual copy (image) of the internal bone structure and alignment status, which is displayed on an external monitor. This optical copy allows the surgeon to assess reduction quality without repeatedly exposing the patient to x-ray radiation and without the delays associated with processing multiple x-ray images.
2Measurement precision
If x-ray machines are used for closed reduction of fractures, then the alignment of bone parts can be monitored, but radiation exposure to patients and personnel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes the x-ray imaging system with an endoscopic optical system. The endoscope uses visible light to illuminate and capture images of the bone interior, completely eliminating ionizing radiation exposure for both the patient and surgical personnel while providing equivalent or superior real-time alignment monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the harmful x-ray radiation into a beneficial optical imaging system. By using the endoscope's light source and camera, the system provides safe, repeatable, real-time visualization of bone alignment without the carcinogenic risks associated with repeated x-ray exposure during surgery.
3Measurement precision
If multiple x-ray shots are taken for fracture reduction, then the alignment can be verified from different views, but the surgery cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the expensive x-ray imaging infrastructure with a relatively simple endoscopic system. The endoscope, monitor, and light source provide multi-angle visualization capabilities at a fraction of the cost of x-ray equipment, reducing surgical costs while maintaining comprehensive alignment verification from different perspectives.
4Ease of operation
If the guide wire is inserted blindly without visualization, then the procedure is simpler, but the precision of fracture reduction decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The intramedullary guide serves dual functions: it provides the mechanical pathway for wire insertion and simultaneously houses the endoscopic camera that visualizes the insertion path and bone alignment. This self-service capability allows the guide to provide its own visualization without requiring separate imaging equipment, maintaining procedural simplicity while dramatically improving reduction precision through real-time optical feedback.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention consists in a product for the closed reduction and, more specifically, in a new type of an intramedullary cannulated guide for fracture reduction with an endoscopic camera for use in intramedullary nailing surgeries. The intramedullary cannulated guide for fracture reduction is consisted of a flexible, unbreakable, modular and cannulated shaft, a T-handle with a hole in the upper surface, a camera, which is located at the edge of the guide, bears a lightning source and is connected wired or wireless to an image reproduction device, a sealing flange with a slot or spout, an input/output cannula for liquid suction and/or washing of the camera glass. The intramedullary cannulated guide for fracture reduction with an endoscopic camera is inserted in a bone that has suffered a fracture. The intramedullary image that the camera transmits, when it encounters the fracture point, is shown on the screen. Thus, the surgeon perceives the direction towards which the bone parts have to be pushed, in order to achieve their reduction with skeletal manipulations. After the intramedullary cannulated guide for fracture reduction is inserted, the camera is removed from the guide, by pulling out the cable of the camera, and, through the canal of the guide, the ball tip guide wire is inserted and the surgery continues as it is conducted up until today.