Surgical Light Guide Bending Mechanism for Obstruction Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current illuminating systems for surgical instruments lack custom-length surgical tubing, leading to obstruction issues due to excess tubing during surgeries, as they require multiple lengths or a single longer tube with excess tubing outside the surgical cavity.
Innovation Solution
A light guide bender with an integrated bending mechanism and markings allows the surgical tube to be bent to the appropriate length, reducing obstruction and eliminating the need for multiple lengths, combined with a clip to maintain the light guide's position relative to the medical instrument.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a longer length of surgical tubing is used to accommodate various retractor heights, then adaptability is improved, but the tubing obstructs access to the surgical site
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical tube is made dynamically adjustable through a bending mechanism that allows the tube to be bent to different angles and lengths. This enables the tube to adapt to various retractor heights while keeping the excess tube bent away from the surgical site, maintaining both adaptability and surgical access.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves the excess tube from a linear extension in the surgical path to a bent configuration in a different spatial dimension. By bending the tube at an angle using the integrated bending mechanism, the excess length is redirected away from the surgical site while maintaining illumination functionality.
2Measurement precision
If multiple different lengths of surgical tubing are available to accommodate various needs, then precision of illumination is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A single surgical tube design serves multiple functions by incorporating an integrated bending mechanism that allows one tube to be configured for different lengths and angles. This eliminates the need for multiple specialized tubes while maintaining precision illumination for various surgical scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The tube's effective length and orientation are adjusted by changing its geometric parameters through bending. The integrated bending mechanism allows the tube to be bent to specific angles, effectively changing its projected length and positioning to match different surgical requirements without requiring physically different tubes.
Data Source
AI summary
A light guide bender (also referred to as an optical tube bender) is provided including an integrated bending mechanism that allows the surgical tube to be bent to the appropriate length (e.g., matching the retractor height). By bending the tube at an angle, potential obstruction caused by the optical fiber is reduced and the need to create various lengths of optical tubing is also eliminated. In one embodiment, the surgical tube may also include markings designating length of the surgical tube. For example, if 200 mm of surgical tubing is needed, then the marking for 200 mm can be located on the surgical tubing and the tubing can be bent at this location.