Segmented Spinal Interbody Device with Metallic Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current spinal stabilization techniques, particularly in interbody fusion procedures, face challenges such as large implant sizes requiring significant bony resection, destabilization of the spinal segment, nerve retraction risks, and limited ability to visualize bone healing due to radio-opaque materials, along with subsidence issues that compromise disc space height and nerve entrapment.
Innovation Solution
The development of an improved interbody device and method for minimally invasive spinal stabilization, where the device separates vertebral support and bone graft housing regions, allowing for separate implantation and optional attachment, using metallic alloys for support without obscuring X-ray follow-up, and employing anchoring mechanisms to facilitate lateral displacement onto the apophyseal ring for enhanced stability and reduced subsidence risk.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If large implants are used for spinal stabilization, then structural support strength is improved, but the amount of bony resection required increases and destabilization of the spinal segment occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The implant is divided into two separate components: a metallic alloy vertebral support structure and a bone graft housing. This segmentation allows the support structure to be smaller and less invasive while the bone graft housing provides additional functionality without increasing the invasive impact on vertebral bone.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone graft housing is extracted as a separate functional component from the traditional single-piece implant. This allows the metallic alloy support to be minimized in size while the bone graft housing can be positioned separately to provide structural support and bone graft containment without requiring extensive bony resection.
2Strength
If traditional interbody devices are used, then vertebral support is provided, but bone graft housing capability is limited and visualization of bone healing is obscured
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the vertebral support function (metallic alloy) from the bone graft housing function, the design allows X-ray visualization of bone healing through the metallic support structure while the bone graft housing contains the graft material separately, enabling monitoring of both structural integrity and bone regeneration.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant combines metallic alloy material for vertebral support with bone graft housing material that allows radiolucency. This composite approach provides both structural strength and the ability to visualize bone healing progress through X-ray imaging.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive approaches are used, then nerve retraction risks are reduced, but implant stability and anchoring capability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented design allows the metallic alloy vertebral support to be inserted through a minimally invasive approach, reducing nerve retraction risks, while the separate bone graft housing can be anchored laterally onto the apophyseal ring to provide enhanced stability without requiring extensive surgical exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone graft housing is designed to be displaced laterally onto the apophyseal ring, utilizing a different spatial dimension for anchoring. This lateral displacement provides enhanced stability and resistance to subsidence without requiring deep insertion that would increase nerve retraction risks.
4Reliability
If implants are designed for lateral displacement onto apophyseal ring, then stability and subsidence resistance are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The implant is segmented into a metallic alloy vertebral support and a bone graft housing that can be independently positioned. The bone graft housing is specifically designed with features for lateral displacement onto the apophyseal ring, providing stability without requiring complex mechanisms in the entire implant system.
Solution Approach 2:
The bone graft housing is designed to be dynamically positioned - initially inserted through a minimally invasive approach and then laterally displaced onto the apophyseal ring for final stabilization. This dynamic positioning capability provides enhanced stability without requiring the entire device to be complex.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods for providing spinal percutaneous delivery of an implant that can rigidly fixate the spinous process of a first superior bone and a second inferior bone of a functional spinal unit. In one aspect, the device comprises two bone abutment members connected via an interconnecting member. In another aspect, the method comprises implanting at least two spinal implant apparatus within a target disc space via an implantation apparatus. In another aspect, a placement instrument comprising an implant delivery segment, an anchor segment, and an articulating arm is disclosed.