Segmented Spinal Bone Fastener for Robotic Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical methods for treating spinal disorders, such as degenerative disc disease and osteoporosis, face challenges in accurately placing bone fasteners and maintaining spinal alignment during robotic-assisted spinal surgery, often requiring complex instrumentation and pre-loaded implant receivers that can interfere with surgical access.
Innovation Solution
A robotic guidance system for spinal implantation that allows for pre-operative planning using CT scans and intra-operative fluoroscopic imaging, enabling precise registration and placement of bone screw shafts without pre-loaded receivers, allowing for modular assembly of bone fasteners with minimal force and adjustable configurations to accommodate various spinal constructs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If pre-loaded implant receivers are used in robotic-assisted spinal surgery, then the bone fastener placement can be guided, but the receivers interfere with surgical access and decompression
Solution Approach 1:
The bone fastener is divided into separate components: a bone screw shaft and an implant receiver. The bone screw shaft is inserted first under robotic guidance, and the implant receiver is attached subsequently. This segmentation allows the robotic system to guide only the bone screw shaft placement without interference from pre-loaded receivers, while still enabling accurate bone fastener placement.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone screw shaft is inserted into the vertebra before attaching the implant receiver. This preliminary action of inserting the bone screw shaft first allows the robotic guidance system to establish accurate placement before the implant receiver is attached, avoiding interference during the critical guidance phase.
2Reliability
If complex instrumentation is used for spinal surgery, then stabilization can be achieved, but the procedural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bone fastener is segmented into a bone screw shaft and an implant receiver that can be assembled manually. This reduces the need for complex pre-assembled instrumentation while maintaining stabilization capability. The modular design allows for simpler individual components that combine to provide the necessary spinal stabilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant receiver is designed to be manually attached to the bone screw shaft without requiring complex automated assembly instrumentation. This self-service approach reduces procedural complexity while maintaining the reliability of spinal stabilization through the modular bone fastener system.
3Ease of manufacture
If pre-loaded receivers are used, then bone fastener engagement is simplified, but pre-load on vertebrae increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bone screw shaft is inserted into the vertebra before attaching the implant receiver. This preliminary insertion allows the bone screw shaft to be secured in the vertebra without applying excessive pre-load through pre-loaded receivers. The implant receiver is then attached to the already-positioned bone screw shaft, distributing forces more favorably.
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting the bone fastener into a bone screw shaft and implant receiver, the design allows for staged assembly where the bone screw shaft is first engaged with the vertebra, and only then is the implant receiver attached. This segmentation enables controlled engagement that reduces excessive pre-load on the vertebrae while maintaining ease of assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprises the steps of: imaging a patient anatomy; selecting an implant strategy for at least one bone fastener having a first member; registering the imaging of the patient anatomy with imaging of at least a portion of a robot; engaging the first member with tissue of the patient anatomy via robotic guidance according to the implant strategy; and subsequently, manipulating the patient anatomy. Systems, spinal constructs, implants and surgical instruments are disclosed.