Angled Orthopedic Guide Wire for Trajectory Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
In surgical procedures, ensuring the accurate trajectory and length of screws and guide wires into bones is challenging, especially with self-tapping screws that lack a pre-drilled hole, leading to difficulties in controlling the trajectory and determining proper screw length.
Innovation Solution
A drill or guide wire guide with a guide hole and slot that allows for angled insertion and measurement, enabling precise placement and measurement of guide wires and screws, ensuring they follow the desired trajectory and appropriate length for bone plate implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If self-tapping screws are used without a pre-drilled hole, then the surgical procedure is simplified and faster, but the trajectory control and screw length determination become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is inserted into the bone before the screw to establish the desired trajectory in advance. The guide wire acts as a preliminary element that defines the path, allowing the subsequent screw to follow the pre-established trajectory accurately without requiring a pre-drilled hole.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide wire serves as an intermediary element between the surgeon's intent and the final screw placement. It mediates the trajectory control by providing a physical guide that the screw follows, resolving the contradiction between speed and precision.
2Productivity
If self-tapping screws are used without a pre-drilled hole, then the surgical procedure is simplified and faster, but the screw length determination becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is inserted to the desired depth before screw placement, establishing the target depth in advance. This preliminary positioning allows for accurate screw length determination by measuring along the pre-positioned guide wire, eliminating the need for complex intraoperative measurements.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide wire acts as a measuring intermediary, providing a reference along which screw length can be accurately determined. It mediates between the bone surface and the target depth, enabling precise length measurement without requiring pre-drilled holes.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional drill guides are used, then trajectory guidance is provided, but the guides require reprocessing and sterilization which increases cost and infection risk
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is designed as a disposable, single-use device that is discarded after one surgical procedure. This eliminates the need for reprocessing and sterilization, reducing costs and infection risks while maintaining trajectory guidance functionality throughout the device's service life.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide wire is discarded after use rather than reprocessed. This approach recovers surgical time and reduces infection risk by eliminating the reprocessing step, while the guide wire's functionality is fully utilized during its single use before being discarded.
4Manufacturing precision
If reusable drill guides are used, then trajectory control is achieved, but infection risk and reprocessing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is designed as a disposable device that is discarded after single use, eliminating the infection risk associated with reprocessing and sterilization. This maintains trajectory control functionality while removing the harmful factor of infection risk inherent in reusable devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide wire extracts the essential trajectory guidance function from the complex reusable drill guide system. By taking out only the necessary guiding function and implementing it through a disposable wire, the infection risk and reprocessing requirements are eliminated while maintaining trajectory control.
Data Source
AI summary
Drill and/or guide wire guides and methods are usable with at least one orthopedic surgical implant screw, wherein the guides have a length defined between a first end and a second end located opposite to the first end and a thickness defined between a front side and a back side located opposite to the front side of the guide. The guides have a guide hole formed adjacent to the first end of the guide, wherein the guide hole extends through the thickness of the guide from the front side to the back side of the guide, wherein the guide hole has a diameter sized to receive a diameter of a drill bit or a guide wire. The guides have a slot formed on the front side of the guide and located adjacent to the front side of the guide, wherein the slot extends along at least a portion of the length of the guide, wherein the slot has a diameter sized to receive a diameter of a drill bit or a guide wire. The longitudinal axis of the guide hole is angled from a longitudinal axis of the guide or the slot by an angle a, wherein the angle a is greater than about 1° and less than about 90°.