Retractor Blade Wire Paths for Minimally Invasive Spine Fixation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical medical devices, particularly surgical retractors, face challenges in efficiently inserting and removing surgical wires due to their stiffness and difficulty in maneuvering within constrained surgical corridors, leading to increased pain, morbidity, and cost in minimally invasive procedures.
Innovation Solution
The development of retractor blades with integrated surgical wire paths, including tubes and channels, that guide and secure surgical wires along specific trajectories, facilitating insertion and removal, and the use of surgical wire removers with mechanisms to ease extraction, ensuring precise placement and secure fixation during procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If surgical wires are used for securing retractors during minimally invasive surgery, then retractor stability is improved, but the stiffness of surgical wires makes them difficult to maneuver through constrained surgical corridors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a flexible catheter as an intermediary device that guides the stiff surgical wire through the constrained surgical corridor. The catheter's flexibility allows it to navigate tight spaces while the wire maintains retractor stability once positioned. The catheter acts as a temporary mediator that enables wire insertion without requiring the wire itself to be flexible enough to maneuver independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The system divides the wire insertion function into two separate components: the flexible catheter for navigation and the stiff wire for fixation. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function - the catheter for ease of maneuvering and the wire for retractor stability - resolving the contradiction between wire stiffness and maneuverability.
2Device complexity
If surgical wires are manually inserted through retractor blades, then device simplicity is improved, but the time and difficulty of wire insertion and removal increase
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is pre-positioned through the surgical corridor before wire insertion. This preliminary action creates a prepared pathway that significantly accelerates subsequent wire insertion. The catheter remains in place as a guide, allowing the wire to be quickly threaded through without requiring complex real-time manipulation or measurement of the insertion path.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter serves as a mediator that simplifies the wire insertion process by providing a pre-formed channel. Instead of manually creating the insertion path through complex blade positioning and wire manipulation, the catheter intermediary already establishes the trajectory, reducing insertion time and procedural difficulty.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional surgical retractors are used without integrated wire paths, then device versatility is improved, but tissue displacement and procedural complications increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the retractor blade and catheter into a single integrated device. The catheter is incorporated directly into the blade structure, allowing the retractor to perform both its traditional retraction function and serve as a wire insertion guide. This merging eliminates the need for separate wire insertion instruments that would require additional tissue manipulation and corridor creation, thereby reducing tissue displacement while maintaining retractor versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical wire is part of a system that includes a retractor blade defining one or more paths for the surgical wire to follow. The paths can be one or more openings, cannulations, paths, tubes, other structures, or combinations thereof. The surgical wire can be routed through the front, back, and/or middle of the retractor blade and into a vertebral body. The surgical wire can be routed through a shim in communication with the retractor blade and into a vertebral body Systems and methods are used to insert surgical wires into bone. Systems and methods are used for removing surgical wires from bone. Systems include those for gripping and pulling or pushing surgical wires. Systems include those that interact with a retractor (e.g., an arm, body, or blade thereof) to facilitate removal of the surgical wire.