Sheet-Like Implant Holder for Stable Arthroscopic Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing implant delivery devices struggle with stability and positionability during arthroscopic surgery, particularly when deploying sheet-like implants like the Tapestry® Biointegrative Implant, requiring manual manipulation and risking displacement or tearing.
Innovation Solution
An implant delivery device with a handle, first shaft, and an implant holder that retains the implant at its corners, allowing for stable unfurling and secure engagement/disengagement, using a deformable material like Hytrel® to maintain a flat position and facilitate passage through a cannula.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a sheet-like implant is delivered through a small incision using arthroscopic techniques, then minimal invasive surgery is achieved, but the implant is difficult to manipulate and position precisely
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an implant holder as an intermediary device that engages with the sheet-like implant at multiple points (corners and edges). This holder acts as a mediator between the delivery device and the implant, providing mechanical engagement features that enable precise control and positioning of the implant during arthroscopic delivery through small incisions.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the implant is held securely during delivery, then positioning stability is improved, but the risk of tearing or displacement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different engagement characteristics at different locations of the implant holder. The holder features corners that engage with the implant corners and edges that engage with the implant edges, creating localized engagement points that distribute force evenly across the implant surface, thereby maintaining stability while minimizing the risk of tearing or displacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant holder is designed with features that cushion and distribute the forces applied to the implant during delivery. The holder's structural design includes rounded corners and tapered edges that gently engage with the implant, preventing concentrated stress points that could cause tearing, while still providing sufficient holding force for stable positioning.
3Reliability
If the implant holder engages the implant at corners and edges, then capture and retention are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the engagement function into distinct features of the implant holder: corner engagement features and edge engagement features. Each segment of the holder (corners and edges) is designed to engage with corresponding features on the implant, providing reliable capture and retention through distributed engagement points without requiring a monolithic complex structure.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application discusses and illustrates various examples including implant delivery device. This can optionally include handle, a first shaft and an implant holder. The handle can be disposed at a proximal end of the implant delivery device and configured to be grasped by a user. The first shaft can extend distally from the handle. The implant holder can be coupled to the first shaft. The implant holder can be configured to retain a sheet-like implant adjacent two or more corners of the sheet-like implant during implantation of the sheet-like implant into a patient at a surgical site.