Osteochondral Plug Forming With Registration-Guided Geometry
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems and methods for preparing and delivering osteochondral plugs lack the necessary geometrical precision and complexity to replicate the normal, three-dimensional anatomy of injured or diseased osteochondral tissue, and there is a need for improved systems to create osteochondral plugs from various materials with enhanced features such as diameter, length, and cartilage surface orientation.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a cutting guide and cutters to shape osteochondral plugs with precise geometrical features, using a trephine and guide sleeve to align and cut tissue grafts, and a delivery device to orient and insert the plugs accurately at the recipient site, ensuring alignment with the surrounding tissue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional cutting methods are used to prepare osteochondral plugs, then the preparation process is simple, but the geometrical precision and complexity of the plugs are insufficient to replicate normal three-dimensional anatomy
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting system is segmented into multiple independent components: a cutting guide with registration surface, multiple cutters (trephine, osteotome, saw blade), and a delivery device. Each component performs a specific function, allowing complex geometrical precision to be achieved through coordinated simple actions rather than a single complex device.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting guide serves as an intermediary device between the simple cutters and the complex anatomical geometry required. The registration surface with reference shape acts as a mediator that transfers precise orientational information from the anatomical site to the cutters, enabling high manufacturing precision without requiring complex cutters.
2Quantity of substance
If osteochondral plugs are prepared from larger cylindrical plugs or bulk material, then material availability is improved, but the precision of geometrical features such as diameter, length, cartilage surface contour, and orientation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The registration surface is prepared in advance on the cutting guide, with the reference shape corresponding to the shaped surface of the tissue graft. This preliminary preparation enables precise positioning and orientation before the actual cutting occurs, allowing high manufacturing precision even when working with larger bulk material that requires subsequent shaping.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different cutting approaches to different regions of the bulk material: the trephine creates a precise cylindrical core, the osteotome shapes the cartilage surface with specific contour, and the saw blade defines the length. Each cutter provides local quality precision to specific geometrical features while working from bulk material.
3Measurement precision
If the cutting guide uses a reference shape corresponding to the shaped surface, then the orientational information is preserved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The registration surface contains a reference shape that is a simplified copy or representation of the shaped surface of the tissue graft. This copy preserves the essential orientational information needed for precise plug formation without requiring the full complexity of the actual anatomical surface, thus maintaining measurement precision while limiting device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of preparing and/or delivering an osteochondral plug may include, positioning a tissue graft on a cutting guide, wherein the tissue graft may have been removed from a larger body of tissue to define a shaped surface. The tissue graft may include a top surface having a cartilage surface. The method may further include advancing a first cutter along a cutting direction toward the tissue graft to cut the tissue graft to form the osteochondral plug having an external wall parallel to the cutting direction and transverse to the top surface. Positioning the tissue graft on the cutting guide may include placing the shaped surface on a registration surface of the cutting guide. The registration surface may have a reference shape that corresponds to a shape of at least part of the shaped surface.