Mesh Flexor Tendon Repair Device Compressing Bulk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current flexor tendon repair techniques face challenges in creating a strong, yet non-bulky repair that allows for early active motion and minimizes adhesions, as existing methods often result in a bulky repair site that impedes tendon excursion through the retinacular tunnel.
Innovation Solution
A flexor tendon repair device composed of a mesh material with folded edges and interlocking sutures that compresses the tendon into an ovoid shape, reducing bulk and friction, allowing for smooth passage through joints while maintaining strength and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If multiple suture strands are used to strengthen the repair, then the strength of the repair is improved, but the bulkiness of the repair site increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes a thin film or sheet material that wraps around the tendon repair site. This flexible thin film provides structural support and compression without adding significant bulk, allowing multiple suture strands to be incorporated while maintaining a streamlined profile that minimizes interference with tendon excursion through the retinacular tunnel.
2Strength
If multiple knots are placed on the outside of the tendon to secure the repair, then the strength of the repair is improved, but adhesions and irritation to surrounding soft tissues increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts or removes the knots from the external surface of the tendon by incorporating them within the thin film structure or by using a continuous suture technique that eliminates the need for external knots. This extraction of harmful knots from the tendon surface prevents adhesion formation and soft tissue irritation while maintaining repair strength through the film's structural support.
3Strength
If the repair site is made bulky to ensure strong connection, then the strength of the repair is improved, but the excursion and movement of the tendon through the retinacular tunnel is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The thin film wraps around the repair site in a conforming manner that maintains the natural contours of the tendon. This flexible shell structure provides necessary compression and support for strong healing while preserving the streamlined shape required for smooth passage through the retinacular tunnel, thereby maintaining full tendon excursion capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The thin film is shaped to conform to the curved, cylindrical geometry of the tendon. This curvature-matching design ensures that the repair site maintains a smooth, rounded profile that mimics the natural tendon shape, reducing friction and allowing unrestricted movement through the pulley system while providing adequate structural support for healing.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexor tendon repair device has a sheet of mesh material of rectangular shape with four edges: two longitudinal edges and two lateral edges perpendicular to the longitudinal edges. Each pair of edges is mutually parallel and spaced apart. Each edge is also folded inwardly for two smooth edges upon which the healing tendon rests and two smooth edges where the sheet mutually joins. Along with the sheet, the invention includes sutures, typically doubled, and one at each lateral edge. The lateral edges generally support the healing tendon while the sheet wraps around the tendon with the longitudinal edges generally parallel to the length of the tendon. A surgeon, during use of the invention, tightens each suture along the longitudinal edges, closing the device, and then upon the laterals to tie the suture. Upon tying, the mesh attains an ovoid shape similar to the natural cross section of a tendon.