Intramedullary Nail Distal Locking Alignment System
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The natural curvature of the medullary canal can cause intramedullary nails to bend during insertion, misaligning distal locking holes with the aiming arm, making it difficult to securely lock the nail to the bone.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a pair of plates and a connector that passes through a locking hole to fix the intramedullary nail to the bone, using a flexible drill to thread the connector and plates through the nail's channel and drill a corresponding hole in the bone, ensuring accurate alignment and fixation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an intramedullary nail is inserted into the medullary canal to fix a fracture, then the fracture can be stabilized, but the natural curvature of the medullary canal causes the nail to bend during insertion, misaligning the distal locking holes with the aiming arm
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an aiming arm as an intermediary device that attaches to the intramedullary nail. The aiming arm includes distal locking hole guides that extend laterally to provide external reference points for aligning locking holes with the bone, serving as a mediator between the nail's internal locking holes and the external drilling/targeting process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the locking hole alignment problem from a one-dimensional internal hole position to a three-dimensional external reference system. The distal locking hole guides extend laterally from the nail's longitudinal axis, creating external reference points that can be visually aligned with the bone surface and drilling path, adding spatial dimensions to the alignment process.
2Reliability
If the distal locking holes are misaligned with the aiming arm due to nail bending, then alignment accuracy deteriorates, but secure locking of the nail to the bone is required
Solution Approach 1:
The distal locking hole guides act as intermediary reference structures that bridge the misalignment between the nail's locking holes and the aiming arm. These guides provide external visualization and alignment references that compensate for the bending-induced misalignment, enabling accurate hole positioning despite the nail's curved state.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary alignment actions by attaching the aiming arm with distal locking hole guides to the intramedullary nail before the actual locking procedure. This preliminary setup establishes accurate reference points and alignment markers that guide the subsequent drilling and locking hole creation, ensuring precision even when the nail is bent.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for locking an intramedullary nail to a bone includes a first plate sized and shaped to be inserted through a channel of an intramedullary nail and dimensioned to prevent its passing through a locking hole of the intramedullary nail and a second plate sized and shaped to be positioned along a portion of an exterior of a hole drilled in the bone and dimensioned to prevent its passing through the hole drilled in the bone along with a connector couplable to the first and second plates and slidable through the channel of the intramedullary nail to extend through the locking hole from an interior of the channel to an exterior of a bone in which the intramedullary nail has been inserted.