Universal Surgical Instrument Guide for Robotic Trajectory Precision
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surgical procedures, particularly in spinal surgery, face challenges with maintaining precise trajectories during drilling, tapping, and implant placement due to the limitations of existing robotic systems, which can lead to complications such as misalignment and damage to surrounding tissues, especially in osteoporotic bones and minimally invasive surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A universal surgical instrument guide system that integrates with robotic surgical systems, providing a secure and precise mechanism for guiding surgical instruments through channels and alignment members, allowing for consistent alignment and tracking of instruments relative to the patient's anatomy, eliminating the need for k-wires and reducing the risk of misplacement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a robotic surgical system is used to assist in precise bone drilling, then drilling precision is improved, but additional risks arise during tapping and implant placement stages due to lack of continuous trajectory guidance
Solution Approach 1:
The guide body is designed with multiple channels (first channel for drilling, second channel for tapping, third channel for implant placement) that all share a common alignment reference. This universal guide structure maintains trajectory guidance across multiple surgical stages, eliminating the need for separate guidance systems for each instrument type and ensuring continuous precision from drilling through implant placement.
2Manufacturing precision
If k-wires are used to mark the drilled hole for later use, then trajectory guidance is maintained, but serious complications arise such as wire advancement without realization, wire breakage, or screw placement in random locations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the k-wire component from the surgical system by providing direct visual and physical guidance through the guide body's channels. The surgeon can directly observe the instrument trajectory through the transparent or translucent guide body, removing the intermediate k-wire marker that causes complications while maintaining precise trajectory guidance throughout all surgical stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide body serves as a transparent intermediary structure between the surgeon and the surgical site, allowing direct visual monitoring of instrument placement without requiring k-wires. The guide body's channel structure acts as a mediator that physically constrains and guides instruments along the correct trajectory while enabling continuous visual verification.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple separate guidance systems are used for drilling, tapping, and implant placement, then each stage can be optimized, but device complexity and surgery duration increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges multiple separate guidance functions into a single integrated guide body structure with multiple channels. Each channel is optimized for its specific instrument type (drilling, tapping, implant placement) while all channels share a common alignment reference and mounting interface, reducing the number of separate guidance systems from three to one while maintaining stage-specific optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide body is designed as a universal multi-functional device that can accommodate various surgical instruments through its multiple channels. The standardized mounting interface and common alignment reference allow the same guide body to guide drilling, tapping, and implant placement instruments, eliminating the need for multiple specialized guidance systems.
4Manufacturing precision
If the surgeon must drill a new hole when k-wire is found loose, then accurate placement can be achieved, but bone is weakened locally and surgery duration is prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
The guide body is pre-aligned and securely mounted to the robotic arm before the surgical procedure begins, establishing the correct trajectory in advance. This preliminary positioning ensures that all subsequent instruments (drill, tap, implant) follow the pre-determined accurate path without deviation, eliminating the need for corrective actions such as redrilling and preventing bone weakening or surgery delays.
Data Source
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AI summary
Described herein are systems and apparatus of surgical instruments engineered for integration with robotic surgical systems to enhance precision in surgical procedures. Also described herein are methods of using such surgical instruments in performing surgical procedures. The use of such surgical instruments reduce complications arising from misalignment during surgery. The disclosed technology assists in stages of a surgical procedure that require a precise trajectory to be followed. Surgical instrument guides are attached to a universal surgical instrument guide, which is engineered to attach directly or indirectly with a robotic arm of a robotic surgical system. Surgical instruments can then be precisely guided along an axis defined by the universal surgical instrument guide. Individual instruments are easily inserted and removed from the channel of the universal surgical instrument guide, thus allowing a range of instruments to be used throughout a procedure while maintaining the surgical trajectory.