Prone Surgery Frame With Multi-Axis Joint to Prevent Torsion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical frames for spinal surgery experience torsion and bending forces due to mismatched degrees of freedom of motion with the surgical table, leading to potential detachment and uncontrolled movement of patient support devices, which poses a clinical hazard and complicates storage.
Innovation Solution
A surgical frame with a multi-axis joint system that matches the freedom of motion of the surgical table, allowing the frame to articulate around six axes, including a rotatable head and yoke mechanism that locks against rotation in specific positions, ensuring the frame's stability and ease of storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a standard surgical table with metal frames is used, then the table provides structural support and stability, but the metal elements interfere with high resolution fluoroscopic imaging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the principle of using radiolucent materials (analogous to optical transparency) to replace metal frames in the surgical table design. The table structure is constructed from radiolucent spars and components that allow fluoroscopic X-rays to pass through, enabling high-resolution imaging while maintaining structural support. This resolves the contradiction by changing the material property from opaque metal to radiolucent material.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If specialized self-standing surgical tables are used for spinal surgery, then the tables provide radiolucent imaging capability and patient positioning support, but they are expensive and occupy valuable O.R. space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the specialized surgical table system into separate modular components: a standard surgical table platform and a detachable radiolucent accessory frame assembly. The accessory frame can be attached to the standard table when needed for spinal procedures and removed or stored when not needed. This segmentation allows the hospital to use a standard table most of the time (saving space and cost) while having radiolucent capability available when required.
Solution Approach 2:
The accessory frame assembly is designed to be compatible with standard surgical tables, making the standard table multi-functional. The same standard table can be used for both general surgery (with metal frame) and spinal surgery (with radiolucent accessory frame attached). This universality reduces the need for specialized expensive tables while maintaining imaging capability when needed.
3Ease of operation
If table extensions with tabletops are used to support the patient, then the extensions provide patient support, but they obstruct blood pooling in the abdomen and prevent adequate flexure of the patient's torso
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid tabletops with thin, flexible radiolucent panels or spars that provide minimal support surface. These thin film-like structures allow the patient's abdomen to hang downward freely, enabling blood to pool in the abdomen and away from the operative site, while still providing adequate support for the patient's body. The flexibility allows sufficient torso flexure for lumbar region positioning.
4Stability of the object's composition
If table extensions are rigidly attached to the surgical table, then the extensions provide stable support, but they cannot pivot to permit flexure of the patient's torso for lordotic or kyphotic positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic, movable connections between the accessory frame and the surgical table. The frame includes pivot points and articulation mechanisms that allow the frame to move relative to the table, enabling the patient's torso to be flexed into lordotic or kyphotic positions. The dynamic design maintains stability during surgery while providing the necessary adaptability for spinal positioning adjustments.
5Ease of operation
If patient support devices are allowed to move freely on the frame, then the devices can be adjusted to various positions, but they may detach or move uncontrolled during surgery, posing a clinical hazard
Solution Approach 1:
The patient support devices incorporate a dynamic locking mechanism that allows them to be easily moved and adjusted to various positions along the frame during setup, then securely locked in place during surgery. The devices can transition between a movable state for positioning and a locked stationary state for stable support, providing both adjustability and reliability as needed.
Data Source
AI summary
An accessory for attachment to a surgical table that supports at least a portion of a patient's body, the accessory comprising at least one support structure having an adjustable length, a frame extending from a proximal end to a distal end, wherein the distal end of the frame is configured to be rotatably coupled to the surgical table and a multi-axis joint mounted onto the at least one support structure rotatably coupled to the proximal end of the frame, wherein the multi-axis joint has at least a first rotational degree of freedom about a tilt axis of the frame and a second rotational degree of freedom about an axis orthogonal to the tilt axis of the frame.