Pivotable Lapidus Guide System for Metatarsal-Cuneiform Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical methods for correcting bunions lack an efficient system for aligning and fixing the metatarsal and cuneiform bones, leading to suboptimal bunion correction and potential complications.
Innovation Solution
A guide system comprising pivotable body portions with bone anchors and guides for cutting and boring, allowing precise alignment and fixation of the metatarsal and cuneiform bones, enabling rotational correction and stabilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional surgical methods are used for bunion correction, then the surgical procedure can be performed, but the alignment precision and correction effectiveness are suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The guide system is divided into multiple body portions (first body portion, second body portion, third body portion) that can be selectively coupled together. Each body portion serves a specific function: the first body portion couples to the metatarsal bone, the second body portion couples to the cuneiform bone, and the third body portion provides additional guidance. This segmentation allows the system to achieve precise alignment while maintaining modularity and reducing overall complexity by only assembling the necessary components for each specific surgical need.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide system incorporates multiple functional elements within a unified structure that can perform various surgical tasks. The same guide system provides both alignment guidance and cutting guidance through integrated guides, and can accommodate different bone anchor types and configurations. The body portions can be coupled in different configurations depending on the specific surgical requirement, making the system universally applicable to various bunion correction scenarios.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a pivotable guide system is used to enable rotational correction, then the bunion correction effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide system incorporates a pivot mechanism that allows the second body portion to rotate relative to the first body portion about a pivot axis. This dynamic capability enables the system to accommodate and guide rotational correction of the metatarsal bone relative to the cuneiform bone. The pivot mechanism is designed to be simple yet effective, providing the necessary rotational freedom while maintaining structural integrity and alignment precision throughout the correction process.
3Reliability
If bone anchors are used to couple the guide system to bones, then the stabilization is improved, but the surgical procedure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide system is designed to be coupled to the metatarsal and cuneiform bones using bone anchors before the actual correction and fixation procedures are performed. This preliminary coupling establishes a stable reference framework that guides subsequent surgical steps. The bone anchors are positioned and secured in advance, ensuring that the guide system remains firmly attached throughout the procedure, thereby providing continuous stabilization and guidance without requiring complex real-time adjustments.
4Manufacturing precision
If integrated cutting and boring guides are used, then the manufacturing precision is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide system integrates multiple guidance functions into a unified structure. The first, second, and third body portions collectively provide both cutting guidance and boring guidance through integrated guides that are part of the same assembly. This merging of functions eliminates the need for separate guiding devices for cutting and drilling, thereby improving manufacturing precision while actually reducing overall device complexity compared to using multiple separate tools.
Data Source
AI summary
A bunion correcting system can include a first body portion and a second body portion. One of the first and second body portions can be pivotable relative to the other of the first and second body portions. The first body portion can include a first surface, a second surface spaced from the first surface along a transverse direction, and a first aperture extending from the first surface to the second surface. The first aperture can be adapted to receive a first bone anchor to couple the first body portion to a metatarsal bone. The second body portion can include a third surface, a fourth surface spaced from the third surface along the transverse direction, and a second aperture extending from the third surface to the fourth surface. The second aperture can be adapted to receive a second bone anchor to couple the second body portion to a cuneiform bone.