Minimally Invasive Spinal Implant Delivery via Tubular Retractor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical methods for treating spinal disorders often require invasive procedures and may not effectively stabilize the spine, leading to incomplete relief of symptoms and potential complications.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system and method that involves positioning the body laterally, making a minimally invasive incision, and using a retractor to create a surgical pathway for delivering implants, such as bone fasteners and spinal rods, along specific trajectories to stabilize the spine while minimizing muscle disruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional open surgical methods are used to deliver spinal implants, then complete access and stabilization can be achieved, but tissue damage and muscle disruption are significant
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical approach is segmented into distinct phases: creating a minimally invasive incision, inserting a tubular retractor through the incision, and delivering implants through the retractor. This segmentation allows the surgical team to achieve deep spinal access while limiting the initial tissue disruption to a small incision site, rather than requiring large open incisions for direct access.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubular retractor serves as an intermediary device that facilitates implant delivery through a minimally invasive pathway. The retractor creates a controlled tunnel through the tissue, allowing implants to be delivered to the spinal site without requiring direct open access, thereby reducing muscle disruption and tissue damage while maintaining surgical effectiveness.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive techniques are used for implant delivery, then tissue damage is reduced, but surgical precision and access control become more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular retractor is inserted and positioned at the target spinal site before implant delivery begins. This preliminary action establishes a pre-formed pathway with controlled geometry, allowing subsequent implant delivery to proceed with high precision through the predetermined tunnel, eliminating the need for real-time navigation through complex soft tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubular retractor provides localized access control at the surgical site, creating a precisely defined pathway with specific diameter and orientation tailored to the individual patient's anatomy and the specific implant being delivered. This local quality control ensures that the minimally invasive approach does not compromise surgical precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for treating a spine includes disposing a body including vertebrae in a lateral orientation relative to a surgical fixed surface configured for supporting the body; creating an incision in tissue of the body along a substantially transverse plane of the body; spacing the tissue adjacent the incision along a sagittal plane of the body to define a surgical pathway to the vertebrae; and delivering at least one implant adjacent the vertebrae via the surgical pathway. Systems and implants are disclosed.