Multi-Hooded Joint Implant Reduces Dislocation and Wear
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing enarthrodial joint implants face issues with dislocation, breakage, and osteolytic loosening due to wear debris from resilient materials, and hard-surface articulations are inflexible, limiting natural range of motion or requiring bulky structures.
Innovation Solution
A multi-hooded enarthrodial joint implant with a hard substance articulating cup and modular stem arrangement, featuring a truncated head and optional securing member to prevent dislocation and breakage, using biocompatible materials like metals and ceramics to reduce wear debris and enhance stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If resilient materials like UHMWPE are used for the cup, then dislocation resistance is improved, but wear debris is generated causing osteolytic loosening
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from resilient plastic (UHMWPE) to hard substance (metal or ceramic), fundamentally altering the wear characteristics while maintaining dislocation resistance through the hooded structural design
Solution Approach 2:
The cup is segmented into multiple hoods that can independently deflect and absorb impact forces, allowing the hard substance material to resist dislocation without generating excessive wear debris through distributed stress management
2Object-generated harmful factors
If hard-surface articulation is used, then wear debris is reduced, but flexibility is lost limiting range of motion
Solution Approach 1:
The hoods are designed as dynamic elements that can deflect and move independently during joint motion, providing flexibility and accommodating range of motion while the hard substance material maintains low wear characteristics
Solution Approach 2:
The cup is divided into multiple hoods that can move independently, creating a segmented structure that provides flexibility and adaptability during joint movement while maintaining the low wear properties of hard substance materials
3Reliability
If hard-surface articulation is used with dislocation constraint, then dislocation is prevented, but implant structures become bulky and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The cup is segmented into multiple hoods that work together to provide dislocation prevention through their geometric configuration, eliminating the need for additional bulky constraint mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The hoods serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide dislocation prevention through their geometric configuration, accommodate range of motion through deflection, and distribute stress to prevent wear, replacing the need for separate constraint structures
Data Source
AI summary
Multi-hooded enarthrodial joint implant has a hard substance articulating cup including a hard substance head-receiving cup having an articular surface upon which a head of a joint can articulate, and which, in general, has a margin generally about a hemisphere more or less and at least two hoods that are marginally extended continuations of superior one-half or so of cup containment of a sufficient magnitude to reduce an overall dimension of socket outlet to less than a hemisphere, which can embrace and contain the head. The head is made of a hard substance and has a truncated generally circular cross section, a truncated surface with a feature for attachment of the stem, and an opposing articular surface for articulation against the articular surface of the ceramic head-receiving cup. As an ensemble, the cup is combined with the head, typically with a stem, for a total joint implant. The hard substance may be, for example, a composite substance, a metal or a metal alloy. Either the cup or the head, but not both, may be ceramic when employed in an ensemble.