Spinal Fixation Tool Attachment Structure for Minimally Invasive Surgery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional spinal surgery tools are often bulky and invasive, making them unsuitable for minimally invasive procedures, and elongate rods require large incisions for implantation, complicating the insertion and alignment of spinal screws and rods.
Innovation Solution
A tool assembly comprising an elongate guide tool with implant engaging members and a multi-purpose installation tool that stabilizes the guide tool, deploys and reduces rods, and includes a driver for secure screw implantation, allowing for minimal surgical invasion by providing a compact and adaptable system for screw and rod placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional spinal surgery tools are used, then surgical stability and implant securing capability are improved, but tool size and invasiveness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tool is nested within the multi-purpose installation tool, with the guide tool fitting inside the installation tool's hollow body. This nesting arrangement allows both tools to be used together in a compact configuration, providing the stability of the guide tool while being contained within the smaller installation tool structure, thus reducing overall invasiveness while maintaining surgical stability.
2Strength
If elongate rods are implanted using traditional methods, then rod support capability is improved, but incision size and surgical invasion increase
Solution Approach 1:
The implantation process is segmented into distinct phases: first inserting the guide tool through a small incision to establish positioning, then using the multi-purpose installation tool to deliver the rod. The rod itself is delivered in a segmented manner through the installation tool's rod receiving cavity, allowing the long rod to be inserted through a much smaller incision than traditional methods by breaking the insertion into manageable steps.
3Reliability
If traditional implantation tools are used, then implant securing capability is improved, but device complexity and manipulation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-purpose installation tool is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as a stabilizer for the guide tool, a container for rod stabilizer tangs, a rod pusher, and a rod reducer. By consolidating these previously separate tools into one multi-functional device, the system maintains implant securing capability while reducing the number of separate components the surgeon must handle, thereby reducing overall device complexity and manipulation difficulty.
Data Source
AI summary
A tool set for implanting bone screws in a human spine, followed by the implantation of a rod into the bone screws includes end guide tools having flexible back wall flaps that receive opposite ends of the rod and intermediate guide tools that hold the rod in intermediate locations between the end guide tools. Both the end and intermediate guide tools include an attachment structure for operably connecting the guide tool to a bone screw. The attachment structure includes an undercut and/or recess so as to resist splaying and separation of the guide tool from an attached bone screw.