Pedicle Screw Retractor Blades for Minimally Invasive Vertebral Displacement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spinal fusion procedures, particularly those involving pedicle screw fixation constructs, often require large incisions and invasive techniques, which can lead to significant tissue trauma and prolonged recovery times, while less invasive methods lack efficient tools for precise vertebral displacement and rod insertion.
Innovation Solution
A retraction system comprising retractor blades and shafts that engage with pedicle screws through passageway devices, allowing for minimally invasive vertebral displacement and rod insertion, utilizing blades with varying lengths and configurations to accommodate different anatomies and provide stable tissue retraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If open procedures with large skin incisions are used to expose the spinal column, then pedicle screw fixation constructs can be inserted and manipulated, but significant tissue trauma and prolonged recovery times occur
Solution Approach 1:
The procedure is divided into separate percutaneous incisions for each pedicle screw insertion, rather than one large incision. Each incision is minimized to only what is needed for that specific screw, reducing overall tissue disruption while maintaining surgical access.
Solution Approach 2:
A flexible retractor blade is inserted through the percutaneous incision to provide tissue retraction and create a working channel to the spinal column. This thin, flexible instrument allows access through minimal incisions while maintaining the ability to manipulate surgical tools.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If less invasive percutaneous approaches are used for pedicle screw insertion, then tissue trauma is reduced, but efficient tools for vertebral displacement and rod insertion are lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor blade is combined with a shaft that can receive compression and distraction tools, merging tissue retraction functionality with vertebral displacement capability in a single instrument. This allows percutaneous access while maintaining the ability to perform vertebral manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractor blade acts as an intermediary instrument that provides a working channel through minimal incisions, enabling the transmission of displacement forces from external tools to the vertebrae without requiring large open incisions.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If separate percutaneous incisions are made for each pedicle screw, then minimally invasive access is achieved, but rod insertion becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple retractor blades are combined into a single rod that spans across the vertebrae, providing both tissue retraction and serving as the fixation rod simultaneously. This eliminates the need for separate rod insertion through complex manipulation of multiple separate instruments.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices for retracting tissue during a minimally-invasive, posterior spinal fusion procedure include a blade positionable along a passageway device connected to a connecting element implanted in a vertebra of the spine, such that the blade covers at least a portion of a longitudinal opening of the passageway device. The blade may be coupled to the passageway device by receiving the passageway device with a receiving portion. Systems for displacing the vertebrae of the spine include first and second extenders, the distal ends of each of which are configured to engage the connecting elements. Each extender may include a shaft configured to be securely engaged within a cage of the respective connecting element. The devices and systems of the present invention may be used in connection with an interbody fusion technique performed through an opening extending between the passageway devices, and an intermediate retractor blade may provide additional tissue retraction.