Needle Driver Jaws With Meshing Teeth and Rollers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical instruments, particularly needle drivers, are often expensive, incompatible, laborious to disinfect, non-ergonomic, and cumbersome, making them challenging to use, especially in laparoscopic surgeries where limited visibility and haptic feedback complicate suturing and knot tying, leading to extended surgical times and potential complications.
Innovation Solution
A needle driver design featuring a first jaw with a shaft hosting a roller and teeth, and a second jaw with a shaft hosting another roller and teeth, allowing the jaws to move between open and closed positions, enabling the rollers to drive and grasp needles, and facilitating grasping, manipulating, dissecting, or isolating objects within a tissue or object.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different surgical instruments are used for suturing, grasping, and dissecting, then functional versatility is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument integrates multiple functions including suturing, grasping, and dissecting capabilities within a single device. The jaw assembly can accommodate different needle types and sizes, and the cutting edge can be positioned at various locations along the jaw to perform different surgical tasks, eliminating the need for multiple separate instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate surgical functions into a unified instrument. The jaw assembly integrates needle holding mechanisms, cutting edges, and tissue grasping surfaces into a single structure that can perform multiple operations without requiring instrument changes or multiple separate devices.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different surgical instruments are used for various surgical tasks, then functional versatility is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to laborious disinfection and instrument management
Solution Approach 1:
By providing a single instrument that can perform suturing, grasping, and dissecting functions, the design reduces the number of instruments that need to be sterilized and managed. The universal jaw assembly can be sterilized as one unit while accommodating different surgical needs, simplifying the disinfection process.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple different surgical instruments are used for different needle sizes and angles, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The jaw assembly incorporates dynamic elements that allow adjustment of needle holding positions and cutting edge orientations. The ability to reposition the cutting edge along the jaw and accommodate different needle types through flexible or adjustable components enables adaptability without requiring multiple fixed specialized instruments.
Solution Approach 2:
The jaw assembly is designed to universally accommodate various needle sizes, types, and driving angles through a single integrated structure. This universal design eliminates the need for separate needle drivers for different needle configurations, reducing overall device complexity.
4Manufacturing precision
If extended surgical time is required for laparoscopic suturing, then surgical precision may be improved, but patient complications and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated design allows continuous performance of suturing, grasping, and dissecting operations without instrument changes or repositioning. The surgeon can maintain continuous useful action throughout the surgical procedure, reducing idle time and minimizing the overall surgical duration while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
By enabling all necessary surgical functions from a single instrument position, the design eliminates time lost to instrument manipulation and repositioning. The universal jaw assembly allows the surgeon to perform multiple tasks sequentially or simultaneously without breaking the surgical flow, thereby reducing total surgical time.
Data Source
AI summary
A needle driver can include a first jaw hosting a first shaft and a second jaw hosting a second shaft. The first shaft hosts a first roller and a first set of teeth. The second shaft hosts a second roller and a second set of teeth. The second jaw moves relative to the first jaw between an open position and a closed position. The first set of teeth meshes with the second set of teeth when the second jaw is in the closed position such that (a) the first set of teeth can drive the second set of teeth and (b) the first roller and the second roller can drive a needle therebetween when the first set of teeth drives the second set of teeth.