Robotic Surgical Tool Assembly With Locking Dilator
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In robotic-assisted surgery, conventional methods for creating a working channel to the underlying bony anatomy often result in misalignment and tissue trauma, leading to incorrect screw placement due to manual manipulation of dilators and cutting tools, which can cause complications.
Innovation Solution
A tool assembly with a dilator and a working tool featuring a locking mechanism that allows the working tool to be securely coupled to a robot, enabling precise axial movement and reducing manual manipulation, thereby minimizing tissue trauma and ensuring accurate screw placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manually-placed dilators are used to create a working channel, then the working channel can be established through overlying tissue, but misalignment with the robot-supported working tool occurs causing tissue trauma and preventing satisfactory passage
Solution Approach 1:
The working tool is nested within the dilator, with the working tool positioned coaxially inside the dilator's lumen. The dilator serves as an outer protective sleeve that guides the inner working tool through tissue, ensuring alignment between the robot-supported working tool and the manually-placed dilator without causing tissue trauma.
Solution Approach 2:
The dilator acts as an intermediary component between the robot-supported working tool and the surrounding tissue. It provides a pre-formed channel through the tissue that the working tool can pass through safely, eliminating the need for direct manual manipulation of the working tool through tissue and preventing misalignment-related trauma.
2Measurement precision
If the robot supports the last-placed dilator as a guide tube, then the working tool can be constrained and directed, but positioning and operation of the working tool remains manual and not robotically assisted
Solution Approach 1:
The dilator serves multiple functions: it acts as a guide tube for the working tool, provides structural support when supported by the robot, and creates a protective channel through tissue. This multi-functional design allows the same component to fulfill both guidance and structural roles, enabling robotic assistance while maintaining trajectory accuracy.
3Ease of operation
If rotation of the cutting tool is performed manually, then the cutting tool can be operated, but entrapment of nearby soft tissue occurs biasing against the trajectory and causing incorrect screw placement
Solution Approach 1:
The dilator serves as an intermediary protective barrier between the rotating cutting tool and the surrounding soft tissue. As the cutting tool rotates within the dilator's lumen, the dilator prevents soft tissue from becoming entrapped or biased against the cutting trajectory, ensuring accurate pilot hole location while maintaining ease of cutting tool operation.
Data Source
AI summary
Tool assemblies and methods are disclosed, such as for robotic-assisted surgery with a robot. The tool assembly includes a working tool (44) sized to be coaxially movable within the dilator (60). A locking mechanism (70) releasably couples the working tool (44) and the dilator (60) to one another such that, in a locked configuration, the robot supports the tool assembly. An actuator (86) is configured to receive an input to move the locking mechanism to an unlocked configuration and permit axial movement of the working tool within the dilator. The dilator (60) may include at least one spike (104) disposed within the grooves (128) to penetrate bone. The dilator (60) may include an inner sleeve and outer sleeve coaxially movable relative to one another to move the tool assembly from an initial configuration to a deployed configuration in which the spikes are exposed beyond the sleeve(s). Methods of preparing a pedicle of the spine with the tool assembly with robotic assistance are also disclosed.