Shape Memory Alloy Wire Nuclear Implant for Spinal Shock Absorption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intervertebral disc treatments lack effective shock absorption and mobility preservation between vertebrae, particularly after nucleotomy, where the natural nucleus pulposus is removed, leading to instability and potential hernias.
Innovation Solution
A nuclear implant comprising a continuous wire arranged in a ring shape within the intervertebral space, optionally filled with a gel or viscoelastic material, to create a central space that promotes fibrosis and provides mechanical stability, using bioresorbable materials and radio-opaque wires for visibility and secure anchoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the nucleus pulposus is removed during nucleotomy, then the intervertebral space is cleared for implant insertion, but shock absorption capability and spinal mobility are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The nucleus pulposus is extracted/removed from the intervertebral disc during nucleotomy to create space for the implant, while the implant itself is designed to replace the removed tissue's functional properties
Solution Approach 2:
The implant uses a shape memory alloy wire that changes its physical state from flexible (at lower temperatures) to rigid (at body temperature), transforming the mechanical properties to provide both ease of insertion and reliable shock absorption
2Strength
If a rigid structure is used to provide mechanical stability, then structural integrity is improved, but spinal mobility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The implant incorporates a shape memory alloy wire that dynamically adapts its rigidity based on temperature - flexible during insertion at room temperature, then becomes rigid at body temperature to provide mechanical stability while still allowing controlled mobility
Solution Approach 2:
The implant uses a thin wire structure with shape memory properties that can flexibly conform to the intervertebral space during insertion, then maintains structural integrity under load while permitting physiological motion ranges
3Ease of operation
If a flexible wire is used for easy insertion, then ease of operation is improved, but structural stability is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The shape memory alloy wire undergoes a temperature-induced parameter change from a flexible state during insertion to a rigid state at body temperature, providing both ease of operation and structural stability
Solution Approach 2:
The wire is inserted in a flexible preliminary state, then activated at body temperature to transform into its final stable configuration, achieving easy insertion followed by structural stabilization
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
The implant effectively absorbs shock, maintains spinal mobility, and prevents hernias by forming a stable, fibrotic 'neo-nucleus' that resists compression and lateral forces, ensuring the structural integrity of the intervertebral disc post-nucleotomy.
Implementation Method 1
The wire is created from a shape memory alloy that makes it possible for said wire, at the temperature of the human body, to form a ring
Implementation Method 2
an opaque radio wire that makes it possible to monitor the filling and the arrangement in the form of a ring of the wire inside the nuclear space Es
Data Source
AI summary
The nuclear implant according to this invention constitutes, between two overlying and underlying vertebrae Va, Vb of a spine segment Sr, an intervertebral support device that damps shock and ensures the mobility of the functional unit that is formed by the vertebrae of a vertebral column, whereby the nuclear implant includes a filling element (2) that includes at least one continuous wire (50, 51) that is arranged—inside a nuclear space Es that is obtained after nucleotomy of the intervertebral disk Di—along a profile in the shape of a ring whose stack of coils (55) makes it possible to delimit a central internal space (52).