Surgical Tracker Mount Assembly With Anti-Rotation Tissue Anchor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional adjustable trackers in navigation systems are bulky and prone to obscuring or limiting access to the target site, and maintaining torsional stability is difficult with single-threaded anchors, leading to tracking inaccuracies.
Innovation Solution
A mount assembly with a frame, coupler, and anchor system that includes a guide lock and coupler lock to allow adjustable positioning of trackers while preventing rotation and ensuring secure attachment to tissue, using a shank with a tapering tip and wing braces for enhanced stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional adjustable trackers are used to allow positioning in multiple degrees of freedom, then the tracker can be adjusted relative to the tissue, but the tracker becomes bulky and may obscure or limit access to the target site
Solution Approach 1:
The tracker system is divided into separate components: a compact anchor that engages with the tissue and a separate tracker body. The anchor includes a shank with a distal engagement portion and a proximal receiver, while the tracker body contains the tracking elements. This segmentation allows the tracker to maintain adjustability while reducing the overall bulk at the target site.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor is designed to be received within a bore of the tracker body, with the shank of the anchor fitting into the receiver. This nested configuration allows the adjustable linkage to be compact, with the anchor housed inside the tracker body when not in use, minimizing the profile at the target site while maintaining full adjustability capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional adjustable linkages with multiple joints are used to facilitate positioning in multiple degrees of freedom, then the tracker can be articulated relative to the tissue, but each joint requires securing mechanisms that increase complexity and risk of loosening
Solution Approach 1:
The complex multi-joint linkage system is replaced by extracting the essential adjustment function into a simple rotational mechanism. The anchor rotates within the receiver to provide the necessary angular adjustment, eliminating the need for multiple separate joints and their associated securing mechanisms. This reduces the overall complexity while maintaining the ability to position the tracker in multiple orientations.
Solution Approach 2:
The linkage system transitions from a static multi-joint structure to a dynamic single-degree-of-freedom rotational joint. The anchor can rotate freely within the receiver during positioning, then is secured with a single locking mechanism. This dynamic approach simplifies the structure while maintaining articulation capability throughout the surgical procedure.
3Ease of manufacture
If a single threaded anchor is used to secure the tracker to tissue, then the anchor can be inserted with simple threading, but maintaining torsional stability is difficult to reliably achieve
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor employs asymmetric geometry with a tapered distal portion that engages the tissue at an angle. The shank has a non-circular cross-section with flat surfaces or engagement features that resist rotational forces. This asymmetric design provides inherent torsional stability while maintaining relatively simple insertion, as the taper guides the anchor into the correct orientation during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The distal engagement portion of the anchor features a curved or spheroidal tip that facilitates insertion into the tissue. This rounded geometry allows the anchor to be driven into the tissue with rotational motion, self-aligning as it enters. Once seated, the curved surfaces provide resistance to pull-out and rotational forces, enhancing torsional stability without requiring complex threading mechanisms.
4Volume of moving object
If the tracker is made compact to avoid obscuring the target site, then access to the target site is improved, but the tracker may have reduced visibility to the navigation system
Solution Approach 1:
The tracker body is designed with localized tracking elements (fiducials, markers, or optical features) positioned at specific locations that maximize visibility to the navigation system's cameras or sensors. These high-visibility features are concentrated at the distal end of the tracker body, which is positioned away from the target site, allowing the proximal portion to remain compact while maintaining tracking accuracy through the strategically placed markers.
Data Source
AI summary
A mount assembly for use with a navigable tracker. The mount assembly includes a frame, a coupler for releasably securing the tracker, and an anchor extending along an axis between a distal end for engaging tissue and a proximal end arranged to receive impaction force. The anchor includes an arrow body coupled to a shank and having a tip tapering towards the distal end for advancing into engagement with tissue, and a pair of wing braces to inhibit rotation of the anchor relative to engaged tissue. A guide operatively attached to the frame defines a bore to receive the shank, and a guide lock is operable between: a released configuration to permit movement of the shank along the bore, and a locked configuration to restrict movement of the shank along the bore to effect concurrent movement of the tracker with the tissue engaged by the anchor.