Surgical Tensor with Dual Pivot Loading Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current orthopedic surgical procedures lack precise real-time data for aligning and installing prosthetic components, leading to variations in patient outcomes due to individual anatomical differences, which can result in suboptimal joint performance and increased surgical complexity.
Innovation Solution
A kinetic orthopedic measurement system that includes sensors and electronic circuitry to provide quantitative measurement data on load, alignment, and range of motion, allowing for real-time feedback to surgeons during the installation of prosthetic components, using a distractor and module to measure distraction distance, medial-lateral tilt, and load distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If standardized surgical tools and procedures are used to meet general population needs, then device complexity is reduced and ease of manufacture is improved, but manufacturing precision and measurement precision deteriorate due to inability to account for individual anatomical variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical alignment tools with an optical measurement system consisting of cameras, markers, and computer vision algorithms. This substitution enables precise real-time measurement of bone alignment and prosthetic positioning without requiring complex mechanical measurement devices, thus maintaining ease of manufacture while achieving high measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously captures images of anatomical landmarks and prosthetic components during surgery, processes this data in real-time, and provides feedback to the surgeon about alignment deviations. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables dynamic adjustment of surgical technique to achieve precise alignment tailored to each patient's anatomy.
2Productivity
If standardized procedures are used for joint replacement, then productivity is improved through workflow standardization, but reliability deteriorates due to variations in patient outcomes from individual anatomical differences
Solution Approach 1:
The real-time measurement and feedback system allows surgeons to detect and correct alignment deviations during the standardized surgical workflow, ensuring consistent high-quality outcomes across different patients while maintaining procedural efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-identifies optimal alignment targets based on each patient's specific anatomy before the actual prosthetic installation, allowing surgeons to proceed with confidence through standardized procedures while achieving personalized precision.
3Device complexity
If traditional surgical tools without real-time measurement capability are used, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision and the ability to detect alignment deviations deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical measurement instruments with a computational imaging system using standard cameras and computer vision processing. This approach achieves high measurement precision for alignment and loading without requiring sophisticated mechanical sensors or transducers in the surgical tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces optical markers and image processing algorithms as intermediaries between the physical surgical tools and the measurement function. These intermediaries enable precise measurement capability without modifying the fundamental simplicity of the surgical instruments themselves.
4Ease of operation
If surgeons rely on skill-based adaptation without quantitative data, then ease of operation is maintained through intuitive surgical judgment, but measurement precision and objective assessment of alignment deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides objective quantitative feedback on alignment and loading measurements that complements the surgeon's intuitive judgment. This feedback enhances surgical decision-making by providing measurable data while maintaining the surgeon's expertise-based control over the procedure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms subjective surgical assessment into objective quantitative parameters that can be measured, displayed, and used for decision-making. This parameter transformation maintains ease of operation by presenting data in intuitive formats while dramatically improving measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical apparatus configured to be placed in the musculoskeletal system to precisely separate a first bone from a second bone. The surgical apparatus has one or more sensors to measure one or more parameters and supports one or more bone cuts for installing a prosthetic component. The surgical apparatus has at least one distraction mechanism configured to increase or decrease a height between a first support structure and a second support structure. A tilt mechanism comprises the at least one distraction mechanism. The tilt mechanism couples through a first pivot point and a second pivot point and adjusts a tilt of the second support structure relative to the first support structure. In one embodiment, loading applied to the second support structure is distributed between the first pivot point and the second pivot point during operation of the surgical apparatus.