Soft Button Suture Anchor for Bone Surgery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional surgical buttons used in bone surgeries cause bone disruption and potential pain due to their rigidity and the need for larger drill passageways, and can lead to bone surface failure or discomfort from high pressure areas.
Innovation Solution
A method and construct using a soft button with multiple apertures and a suture loop assembly, where a double loop suture is threaded through the button's apertures, allowing the button to be anchored securely with reduced bone disruption, and the soft material allows tissue ingrowth to harden, providing long-term support without discomfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid button is used to anchor suture in bone surgery, then the button provides structural support and force distribution, but it causes bone disruption, pain, and potential bone surface failure due to high pressure areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the button from rigid (titanium) to soft/compliant material. This allows the button to deform and conform to the bone surface, distributing pressure more evenly and eliminating high pressure areas that cause bone failure and pain, while still providing the necessary structural support for force distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a soft button that can flex and conform to the bone surface geometry. This flexible approach allows the button to adapt to irregular bone surfaces without creating concentrated stress points, thereby reducing bone disruption and patient pain while maintaining anchoring functionality.
2Reliability
If a rigid button with fixed dimensions is used, then it provides consistent anchoring, but it requires a minimum drill passageway diameter that causes greater bone disruption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material property from rigid to soft, allowing the button to be compressed during insertion through smaller drill passageways. After insertion, the button expands to its full dimensions to provide consistent anchoring, thus eliminating the need for large minimum drill diameters while maintaining anchoring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The button transitions from a compressed state during insertion to an expanded state after implantation. This dynamic behavior allows passage through small drill holes and subsequent expansion to provide reliable anchoring, resolving the contradiction between small passageway requirement and anchoring consistency.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a soft button material is used, then bone disruption is reduced and patient comfort is improved, but the button may lack sufficient rigidity for secure anchoring
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses soft button material that can be compressed during insertion to pass through small drill passageways with minimal bone disruption. After insertion, the material's elastic recovery allows it to expand to its original shape and size, providing sufficient rigidity and secure anchoring. This parameter change resolves the contradiction between softness for comfort and rigidity for strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The button exhibits dynamic mechanical properties: soft and compliant during insertion to minimize bone disruption, then becomes rigid after expansion to provide secure anchoring. This time-dependent mechanical behavior allows the button to satisfy both contradictory requirements at different stages of the surgical process.
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 soft button construct reduces bone disruption, minimizes pain, and allows for smaller drill passageways, providing secure anchoring and comfort by integrating with the body's tissue to form a hardened mass, reducing the risk of button displacement and enhancing patient recovery.
Implementation Method 1
the soft material allows tissue ingrowth to harden, providing long-term support without discomfort
Data Source
AI summary
A suture construct having a soft button, defining a multiplicity of first apertures and a set of second apertures. Also, a suture loop assembly has a suture defining a lumen and forming a double loop, formed by a double trap having a first end and a second end, formed in a trap region of the suture, and in which a first portion of the suture is threaded through the trap region lumen from the first end to the second end and the first portion extends out from the second end, and a second portion of the suture is threaded through the trap region lumen from the second end to the first end, and the second portion extends out from the first end. Finally, the double loop passes through the set of second apertures of the soft button.