Spinal Fusion Retractor Corridor for Minimally Invasive TLIF
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) procedures face challenges such as decreased visualization and instrument manipulation, requiring high skill and experience due to smaller incisions and muscle cutting, leading to long recovery times and post-operative pain.
Innovation Solution
A fixation system with bone anchors and spinal rods, utilizing retractor blades and a retractor body to create and adjust an operative corridor, allowing for precise placement and expansion to facilitate procedures like facetectomy, decompression, and discectomy, with polyaxial engagements and hoop shims for angulation and distraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive techniques are used to reduce incision size and muscle cutting, then post-operative pain and recovery time are reduced, but visualization and instrument manipulation capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical system is divided into modular components including separate retractor blades, bone anchors, and instrumentation modules that can be independently manipulated through the small incision, enabling complex spinal procedures while maintaining minimally invasive benefits
Solution Approach 2:
Retractor blades serve as intermediary tools that are advanced through the small incision to create and maintain an operative corridor, providing both visualization and instrument manipulation capability without requiring large incisions or extensive muscle cutting
2Ease of operation
If open approach is used with large incision and muscle cutting, then visualization and instrument manipulation are improved, but post-operative pain and recovery time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor blades are extracted through a small incision and advanced to the spinal site, separating the incision size from the surgical exposure capability, thereby providing adequate visualization and manipulation without large incisions
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from two-dimensional surface incisions to three-dimensional deep tissue access by advancing retractor blades and bone anchors through the small incision to create an operative corridor at the spinal level
3Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive techniques are used with smaller incisions, then tissue damage is reduced, but skill, training, and experience requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor blades and bone anchors are designed to self-align and self-retain at the spinal site, with features such as polyaxial engagements and hoop shims that automatically position components correctly, reducing the skill and training required for precise manual placement
Data Source
AI summary
Implants, instruments, and methods for performing surgical procedures on the spine, including one or more of creating an operative corridor to the spine, delivering implants to the spine, fusing one or more segments of the spine and fixing one or more segments of the spine.