Shape Memory Passing Instrument for Minimally Invasive Joint Stabilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive surgical techniques for joint stabilization, such as the acromioclavicular joint, face challenges in accessing deep-lying bones surrounded by soft tissue, leading to high failure rates and bone fractures due to difficulties in passing sutures or prostheses without causing structural issues.
Innovation Solution
A passing instrument with an elongated cannula and shape memory element that constrains itself into a straight configuration within the cannula, allowing it to be deployed around bones to carry a passing suture construct, facilitating the passage of prosthetic bands around bones with reduced soft tissue dissection and retraction, and featuring mechanisms for secure attachment and retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If bone tunnels are drilled through the clavicle and coracoid bones to insert suture-based tethers, then minimally invasive stabilization is achieved, but bone fractures and misalignment issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a passing instrument as an intermediary device that delivers a shape memory element around the bone without requiring bone tunnel drilling. This mediator enables minimally invasive access while avoiding direct bone penetration, thus eliminating the risk of bone fractures and misalignment associated with traditional drilling methods
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical drilling system with a shape memory element deployment system. Instead of using drills to create bone tunnels, the invention uses a passing instrument to deliver a shape memory element that can be deployed around the bone, substituting a less invasive mechanical approach for the traditional bone-penetrating method
2Ease of operation
If C-shaped hollow needle or corkscrew devices are used to pass wire or suture under bones, then bone circumvention is achieved, but the instruments are difficult to use in confined minimally invasive spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The passing instrument is divided into distinct functional segments: an elongated cannula for navigation, a shape memory element for bone circumvention, and a deployment mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall simplicity and ease of use in confined surgical spaces
Solution Approach 2:
The shape memory element provides dynamic adaptability, changing from a constrained linear configuration during insertion to a deployed curved configuration for bone circumvention. This dynamic transformation enables the instrument to adapt to the confined surgical space and bone geometry without requiring complex manual manipulation
3Productivity
If drilling holes through surface-adjacent and deeper lying bones is performed, then minimally invasive suture passing is achieved, but structural integrity is compromised and misalignment issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The passing instrument serves as an intermediary that enables suture passing without direct bone-to-bone drilling. By delivering the shape memory element around the bone through soft tissue access, the instrument maintains bone structural integrity while achieving the goal of suture placement for stabilization
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the bone drilling step from the surgical procedure entirely. Instead of drilling holes through the bones, the shape memory element is delivered around the bone through a passing instrument, removing the harmful drilling action while preserving the essential function of bone circumvention and suture placement
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables effective minimally invasive stabilization of joints by reducing the need for hole-drilling and minimizing tissue disruption, enhancing the success rate of joint stabilization procedures while reducing the risk of bone fractures and improving surgical efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a shape memory element (418) that has been preformed to a diameter similar to or smaller than the bone diameter
Data Source
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AI summary
A minimally invasive tissue incision system for creating joint capsulotomies and releasing/incising various tendon and fibrous band structures. The system contains a penetrating needle (418) which is retractable from a cannula (410) so as to expose a cutting element, and which may be used as a penetrating needle to pierce the skin and other soft tissue structures. The cutting element provided within the penetrating needle may be used to incise subsequent tissue structures after the initial penetration. The system facilitates such procedures by providing the cutting element with the confines of the needle which provides safe introduction of the cutting element directly to the site via the needle. The penetrating needle (418) is made of shape memory material.