Releasable Spinal Implant with Deployable Engaging Portions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spinal implants permanently implanted between spinous processes can wear out or cause collateral conditions, making their removal difficult and necessitating surgical intervention, which is invasive and risky.
Innovation Solution
A reconfigurable medical device that can be implanted between adjacent spinous processes, featuring a deployable mechanism allowing it to change between collapsed and expanded configurations, enabling minimally invasive insertion, adjustment, or removal, using a deployment tool that moves the device between these states while maintaining stability between spinous processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a permanent spinal implant is implanted between spinous processes, then the implant provides stable support, but the implant cannot be easily removed or repositioned when wear or collateral conditions occur
Solution Approach 1:
The implant device incorporates a dynamic retention mechanism that transitions from a locked state during normal operation to a releasable state when removal is needed. The retention mechanism includes movable components that can be actuated to release the implant from its engaged position, allowing the device to adapt between providing stable support and enabling easy removal.
Solution Approach 2:
A deployment tool serves as an intermediary device that interfaces with the implant's retention mechanism. This tool allows the operator to actuate the release mechanism without requiring complex surgical procedures, bridging the gap between the implant's stable configuration and its removable state through a simple percutaneous action.
2Reliability
If traditional surgical procedures are used to implant or remove spinal devices, then the procedures can effectively address spinal conditions, but they require general anesthesia and result in extended hospital stays with increased risk of complications
Solution Approach 1:
The implant device is divided into separable components including the main body and a retention mechanism that can be independently actuated. This segmentation allows the implant to be removed through a minimally invasive percutaneous procedure rather than requiring full surgical exposure, thereby reducing anesthesia requirements and hospital stay while maintaining effective treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex surgical mechanical system of incisions, exposure, and manual removal is replaced with a simplified percutaneous actuation system. The implant's retention mechanism responds to a simple mechanical input through the skin, substituting the need for extensive surgical intervention with a minimally invasive procedure that achieves the same functional outcome.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses and methods for performing minimally invasive medical procedures are disclosed herein. In one example, an apparatus includes a first body coupled to a second body. The first body and the second body collectively configured to be releasably coupled to an implant device configured to be disposed between adjacent spinous processes. A first engaging portion is coupled to the first body, and a second engaging portion is coupled to the second body. The first engaging portion and/or the second engaging portion is configured to be received within a first opening defined by the implant device. The first body configured to be moved relative to the second body such that a distance between the first engaging portion and the second engaging portion is moved between a first distance and a second distance and simultaneously a length of the implant device is moved between a first length and a second length.