Orthopedic Staple Bridges for Compression Across Bone Gaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing orthopedic staples face challenges in effectively compressing and holding together displaced bone pieces during healing, particularly when gaps exist between the bone pieces, and there is a need for efficient predrilling methods to ensure proper staple insertion.
Innovation Solution
The development of an orthopedic drill guide assembly with adjustable guide holes and retractable arms, along with specialized bone staples featuring chamfered or offset bridges and shape memory materials, allows for precise predrilling and temporary compression of bone sites, ensuring proper staple placement and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If orthopedic staples are used to compress and hold together displaced bone pieces, then bone stability is improved, but the ability to effectively compress bone pieces with gaps between them deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The staple bridge is designed with dynamic flexibility to accommodate gaps between bone pieces. The bridge can deform and adapt its shape to span across gaps while maintaining compression force, transitioning from a rigid structure to a flexible one that conforms to the actual bone fragment positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The staple design incorporates variable parameters including different bridge lengths, thicknesses, and material properties. These parameters can be adjusted to match specific gap sizes and bone fragment configurations, allowing the same staple type to effectively compress bone pieces with varying gap dimensions.
2Manufacturing precision
If predrilling holes are performed for staple insertion, then insertion precision is improved, but the complexity of the surgical procedure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drill guide is designed to be positioned and secured on the bone surface before drilling operations. This preliminary positioning establishes accurate guide holes that precisely align with the intended staple insertion points, ensuring high insertion precision while streamlining the overall procedure through pre-planning.
Solution Approach 2:
The drill guide serves as an intermediary tool between the surgeon's planning and the actual drilling operation. It translates the desired staple placement geometry into precise physical guide holes, acting as a mediator that simplifies the complex task of achieving accurate insertion positions.
3Measurement precision
If adjustable drill guide assemblies are used for precise guide hole positioning, then guide hole positioning accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drill guide assembly is divided into modular segments including the main body, adjustable arms, and positioning mechanisms. Each segment performs a specific function and can be independently adjusted or replaced, allowing high positioning accuracy through coordinated movement of multiple simple components rather than a single complex mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The drill guide assembly incorporates universal features such as adjustable arms that can accommodate different staple sizes and configurations. The same basic structure serves multiple functions including positioning guide holes, securing the device to bone, and adapting to various surgical scenarios, thereby achieving high precision without proportionally increasing complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables effective temporary fixation and compression of bone fragments, facilitating proper staple insertion and alignment, even in cases with gaps, while allowing for versatile use with different staple sizes and materials that return to a memorized shape for enhanced stability.
Implementation Method 1
specialized bone staples featuring chamfered or offset bridges and shape memory materials, allows for precise predrilling and temporary compression of bone sites
Data Source
AI summary
Novel orthopedic staples and related instruments are disclosed. An instrument is an orthopedic drill guide assembly that includes a first arm and a second arm that are retractably connected to the distal end of the instrument's outer housing, where the proximal ends of the arms are retractably connected to the distal end of the outer housing and configured to move in a retractable motion that changes the spacing between the first drill guide sleeve and the second drill guide sleeve, where the proximal end of the outer housing is configured for controlling the retractable motion of the first and second arms.