Abstract:
The present invention relates to a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment assembled to a hand piece having a straight reciprocating part, a saline solution supply part and a foreign substance discharge part, which includes: an inner pipe reciprocally movable together the straight reciprocating means and having a hollow shape of a soft flexible material; an outer pipe connected to a main body of the hand piece and installed at an outer periphery of the inner pipe to guide reciprocal movement of the inner pipe, and having a bent section formed between both ends thereof, the outer pipe being formed of a hard material; and a cutting tool assembled at an end of the inner pipe to reciprocate therewith and reciprocally guided by the outer pipe.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIORITY APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of and claims priority to the commonly assigned Korean Application 10-2006-0064612 (filed Jul. 10, 2006, in the Korean Patent Office) and the commonly assigned International Patent Application No. PCT/KR2007/003341 (filed Jul. 10, 2007, in the Korean Patent Office), both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment, and more particularly, to a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment coupled to a medical hand piece including a straight reciprocating means, a saline solution supply means and a foreign substance discharge means, and used for contour correction such as a reduction of a lower jawbone or cheekbone and removal of a bone tumor or bone spur. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    A surgery apparatus for performing bone amputation or bone cutting can generally be classified into an oscillating sagittal saw method and a reciprocating saw method. Since the oscillating sagittal saw method is designed such that a saw blade moves with a certain angle, extension or reduction in length of the saw blade may cause variation of operation sections and cutting power, thereby making it difficult to cut a portion spaced apart from an incision part. 
         [0004]    In addition, in contrast to the oscillating sagittal saw method, since the reciprocating saw method is designed such that a saw blade reciprocally moves within a certain range regardless of the length of the saw blade, the cutting power is uniformly maintained to secure safety and accuracy during surgery, and thus, the reciprocating saw method is widely used nowadays. 
         [0005]    As an example of the surgery apparatus using the reciprocating saw method, Korean Patent Registration No. 505133 has been proposed by the inventor. The above-mentioned Korean Patent discloses a facial bone surgery apparatus coupled to a medical power hand piece including a straight reciprocating means, a saline solution supply means and a foreign substance removal means. 
         [0006]    The facial bone surgery apparatus includes a long, thin and straight rod. One end of the rod is connected to a reciprocating shaft of a reciprocating means installed at a hand piece to reciprocate. The other end of the rod has a cutting blade, and the cutting blade has holes formed between teeth thereof. The holes are in communication with a foreign substance suction path coupled to an external suction unit to discharge foreign substances such as bone fragments sucked through the holes between the cutting teeth to the exterior. 
         [0007]    Further, the cutting blade of the facial bone surgery apparatus includes a saline solution supply unit connected to an external saline solution supply unit. After the surgery apparatus is inserted through a small incision in the skin near the lower jawbone, a saline solution is supplied to the incision through the saline solution supply path to perform the bone cutting. Then, the cut bone fragments are discharged with the saline solution to the exterior through the foreign substance suction path connected to the suction unit, thereby performing a continuous bone cutting operation. 
         [0008]    However, because one end of the long, thin and straight rod is integrally formed with the cutting blade, the cutting blade is moved in the same or a similar direction in which the hand piece approaches the cut part, i.e., along a reciprocating axis of the hand piece. Therefore, in the case that various approach angles and various cutting angles are required during the approach and entry of portions of the apparatus through the limited incision or if a surgeon is faced with a limited approach angle, such as during facial bone surgery, it was difficult to perform the surgical operation. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    In order to solve the problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment having a bent section formed at an insertion part to be inserted into an incision part to enable power transmission through the bent section, such that a cutting operation can be performed in a different direction than a reciprocating direction of a straight reciprocating member installed at a hand piece, thereby enabling surgical operations under the condition of a limited incision or approach angle. 
         [0010]    The foregoing and/or other objects of the present invention may be achieved by providing a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment assembled to a hand piece having a straight reciprocating means, a saline solution supply means and a foreign substance discharge means, which comprises: an inner pipe reciprocally movable together with the straight reciprocating means and having a hollow shape of a soft flexible material; an outer pipe connected to a main body of the hand piece and installed at an outer periphery of the inner pipe to guide reciprocal movement of the inner pipe, and having a bent section formed between both ends thereof, the outer pipe being formed of a hard material; and a cutting tool assembled at an end of the inner pipe to reciprocate therewith and reciprocally guided by the outer pipe. 
         [0011]    In addition, the facial bone surgery apparatus may further include a straight guide member fixed to an outer surface of the cutting tool to be press-fitted into the outer pipe, wherein a cutting blade direction setting structure is formed between the straight guide member and the outer pipe to vary the direction of a cutting blade of the cutting tool in a circumferential direction about an assembly axis of the cutting tool. 
         [0012]    Further, the cutting blade direction setting structure and the straight guide member may have a polygonal outer cross-section. 
         [0013]    Furthermore, reinforcement bushings may be formed at outer peripheries of both ends of the inner pipe. 
         [0014]    In addition, a saline solution supply path may be formed in a gap between the outer pipe and the inner pipe, and may be in communication with a gap formed between the outer pipe and the straight guide member to supply a saline solution. 
         [0015]    Further, a foreign substance suction path may be formed in the inner pipe, and a through-hole may be formed at the cutting tool to be in communication with the foreign substance suction path of the inner pipe. 
         [0016]    Furthermore, a connection structure of the outer pipe and the hand piece may include: a fixing support fixed to an outer periphery of the outer pipe; a connection tube detachably coupled to the main body of the hand piece at one side and having a threaded part formed at the other side; a fixing nut hooked by the fixing support and threadedly engaged with the threaded part of the connection tube to couple the outer pipe to the connection tube; and a packing for maintaining a watertight seal between the fixing nut, the outer pipe and the connection tube. 
         [0017]    In addition, a bending direction setting structure may be formed between the fixing support and the connection tube to vary an assembly angle of the outer pipe in a circumferential direction about an assembly axis of the outer pipe. 
         [0018]    Further, the bending direction setting structure may include: a plurality of insertion grooves formed at the fixing support of the outer pipe in a circumferential direction about an assembly axis thereof; and an insertion projection formed at the connection tube to be press-fitted into the insertion grooves. 
         [0019]    Furthermore, a connection structure of the inner pipe and the hand piece may include: an adaptor for connecting the straight reciprocating member of the straight reciprocating means installed at the hand piece to the inner pipe and communicating the foreign substance suction path of the hand piece with the foreign substance suction path of the inner pipe; and a locking nut for threadedly engaging the adaptor with the straight reciprocating means, wherein the adaptor has a coupling groove into which a coupling projection of the straight reciprocating member is press-fitted. 
         [0020]    According to a facial bone surgery apparatus for medical treatment of the present invention, it is possible to perform bone cutting in a direction different from an introduction direction of a cutting tool because a bent section is formed at an outer pipe to enable power transmission in a direction different from a moving direction of a straight reciprocating member of a hand piece. In addition, it is possible to perform various surgical operations under the condition of a limited incision or approach angle because an assembly angle of the cutting tool and an assembly angle of the outer pipe can be implemented in various embodiments. 
         [0021]    The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention and the manner in which the same are accomplished will become clearer based on the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a facial bone surgery apparatus adapted to a hand piece in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of a cutting tool of the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 4  is a front view showing an assembly direction change operation of the cutting tool of the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of another cutting tool used in the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of an outer pipe assembly of the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0028]      FIGS. 7 and 8  are cross-sectional views showing the outer pipe assembly of the facial bone surgery apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view showing an outer pipe assembly angle change operation of the facial bone surgery apparatus; and 
           [0030]      FIG. 10  is an exploded perspective view of an inner pipe assembly of the facial bone surgery apparatus. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0031]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0032]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a facial bone surgery apparatus adapted to a hand piece in accordance with the present invention. As shown, the facial bone surgery apparatus  10  in accordance with the present invention is detachably assembled to a hand piece  1  by a connection means including a connection tube  11  and a fixing nut  12 . 
         [0033]    The hand piece  1  is an example of Korean Patent Registration No. 589118 issued to the inventor. While not shown in  FIG. 1 , the hand piece  1  includes a straight reciprocating means driven by power of an external drive means  2 , a saline solution supply means connected to a saline solution supply connection pipe  3  to supply a saline solution into the surgery apparatus, and a foreign substance suction means connected to a suction unit connection pipe to suck foreign substances generated during surgical operations. 
         [0034]    The facial bone surgery apparatus  10  in accordance with the present invention connected to the hand piece  1  is formed in a dual pipe structure comprised of an inner pipe  20  and an outer pipe  30 . The inner pipe  20  is an elongated hollow pipe, and a cutting tool  40  for an operation is detachably coupled to one end of the inner pipe  20 . The inner pipe  20  is formed of a flexible material and linked to the straight reciprocating means of the hand piece  1  to reciprocate in the outer pipe  30  and to be bent in a bent section. 
         [0035]    For this purpose, for example, the inner pipe  20  may be formed of a plastic material, such as Teflon or polypropylene. The material has a certain stiffness to be bent at the bent section and to transmit reciprocal movement in an axial direction, even though the elongated pipe is formed of the same material. In addition, as shown in  FIG. 2 , reinforcement bushings  21  are fixed to both ends of the inner pipe  20  to increase structural intensity of the both ends, thereby securely transmitting or receiving the reciprocal movement in an axial direction. 
         [0036]    The outer pipe  30  may be formed of a metal material such as stainless steel, which has high corrosion resistance and low bending deformability. The outer pipe  30  is formed of an elongated hollow pipe, and disposed on an outer periphery of the inner pipe  20  to guide reciprocal movement of the inner pipe  20 . The outer pipe  30  has a bent section  31  formed between both ends thereof such that a cutting direction by the cutting tool  40  is different from a direction approaching a surgical operation portion through an incision part. The bent section  31  may be formed adjacent to the cutting tool  40 . 
         [0037]    The cutting tool  40  is detachably assembled to an end of the inner pipe  20 . As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the cutting tool  40  includes a cutting blade  41  for grinding and cutting a bone. One end of the cutting tool  40  is assembled to the inner pipe  20  by a connector  42 . The connector  42  is threadedly engaged with the inner pipe  20  at its one end and threadedly engaged with the cutting tool  40  at the other end to detachably assemble the cutting tool  40  to the inner pipe  20 , and transmits reciprocal movement of the inner pipe  20  to the cutting tool  40  to perform facial bone surgery using the cutting blade  41 . 
         [0038]    In addition, the cutting tool  40  and the connector  42  have a hollow structure to be in communication with the interior of the inner pipe  20  used as a foreign substance suction path  22 . The cutting tool  40  has a through-hole  43  in communication with the interior and exterior thereof to suck external foreign substances into the interior. 
         [0039]    A straight guide member  44  is fixed to an outer surface of the cutting tool  40  and press-fitted into the outer pipe  30  to guide reciprocal movement. A cutting blade direction setting structure is formed between the straight guide member  44  and the outer pipe  30  to set an assembly angle of the cutting tool  40  in a circumferential direction about an assembly axis a of the cutting tool  40 . 
         [0040]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , in the cutting blade direction setting structure, while the straight guide member  44  and the outer pipe  30  have a rectangular cross-section to set a direction of the cutting blade  41  of the cutting tool  40  at equal 90° intervals in a circumferential direction about the assembly axis a of the outer pipe  30 , but not limited thereto, directions of the cutting blades  41  can be variously set through a design change of the cross-sectional shape. 
         [0041]    In addition, a predetermined gap is defined between the inner pipe  20  and the outer pipe  30  to form a saline solution supply path  32 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , gaps  44   a  are formed between the straight guide member  44  and the outer pipe  30  to be in communication with the saline solution supply path  32  by forming grooves in the straight guide member  44 . Therefore, the saline solution supplied into the saline solution supply path  32  can be supplied into a surgery portion through the gaps  44   a.    
         [0042]    Further, a foreign substance suction path  22  is formed in the inner pipe  20 , and connected to the interior and the through-hole  43  of the cutting tool  40  to suck and remove foreign substances such as bone fragments and a saline solution of the a surgical operation portion. 
         [0043]    Since the cutting tool  40  is detachably assembled to the inner pipe  20  by the connector  42 , as shown in  FIG. 5 , another cutting tool  40 A may be detachably assembled to the inner pipe  20  by the connector  42 . A through-hole  43 A in communication with the foreign substance suction path  22  of the inner pipe  20  may be appropriately formed depending on the shape of the cutting tool. For example, the through-hole  43 A is formed between the cutting tool  40 A and the straight guide member  44 A. 
         [0044]    Meanwhile, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 6 , an assembly structure of the outer pipe  30  to the main body  5  of the hand piece  1  includes a fixing support  13  fixed to an outer periphery of the outer pipe  30 , a connection tube  11  detachably coupled to the main body  5  of the hand piece  1  at one side and having a threaded part formed at the other side, and a fixing nut  12  hooked by the fixing support  13  and threadedly engaged with the threaded part of the connection tube  11  to couple the outer pipe  30  to the connection tube  11 . 
         [0045]    At this time, as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , in a coupling and separation structure of the connection tube  11  and the main body  5 , hooking grooves  11   a  corresponding to four projections  5   a  formed at an outer periphery of the main body  5  at 45° intervals are formed at an inner periphery of the connection tube  11 , the connection tube  11  is rotated 45° clockwise and counter clockwise, with the projections  5   a  of the main body  5  being inserted into the hooking grooves  11   a  of the connection tube  11 , such that the projections  5   a  are hooked by or released from the hooking grooves  11   a  to be coupled thereto or separated therefrom. 
         [0046]    As described above, the assembly of the outer pipe  30  of the surgery apparatus  10  to the main body  5  of the hand piece  1  enables communication of the saline solution supply path  3   a  of the saline solution supply means connected to the saline solution supply connection pipe  3  with the saline solution supply path  32  of the surgery apparatus  10 , thereby supplying a saline solution into a surgical operation portion. At this time, a packing  14  may be installed between the fixing nut  12 , the outer pipe  30 , and the connection tube  11  to maintain a water tight seal therebetween. 
         [0047]    In addition, a bending direction setting structure is disposed between the fixing support  13  and the connection tube  11  to vary an assembly angle of the outer pipe  30  in a circumferential direction about an assembly axis b of the outer pipe  30 . 
         [0048]    As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 9 , the bending direction setting structure is comprised of a plurality of insertion grooves  13   a  radially formed on a coupling surface of the fixing support  13  about the assembly axis b, and an insertion projection lib projecting from the coupling surface of the connection tube  11  opposite to the insertion grooves  13   a  to be inserted into one of the insertion grooves  13   a . Therefore, the insertion projection lib is selectively inserted into one of the insertion grooves  13   a  to vary a bending direction of the outer pipe  30  with respect to the main body  5  of the hand piece  1 . 
         [0049]    As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 10 , a connection and separation structure of the inner pipe  20  and the hand piece  1  includes a hollow adaptor  23  for connecting the straight reciprocating member  6  of the straight reciprocating means installed at the hand piece  1  to the inner pipe  20 , and a locking nut  24  threadedly engaged with the straight reciprocating member  6  to fix the adaptor  23  to the straight reciprocating member  6 . In addition, the adaptor  23  has a coupling groove  23   a  coupled to a coupling projection  6   a  of the straight reciprocating member  6 . 
         [0050]    By means of the connection structure of the inner pipe  20 , the foreign substance suction path  4   a  of the foreign substance suction means connected to the suction unit connection pipe  4  is in communication with the foreign substance suction path  22  of the surgery apparatus  10  to suck and remove foreign substances such as the bone fragments and the saline solution in the surgical operation portion. 
         [0051]    Using the facial bone surgery apparatus  10  in accordance with the present invention, as shown in FIGS.  1  and  2 , when the drive means  2  reciprocates the straight reciprocating member  6  of the straight reciprocating means installed at the hand piece  1 , the inner pipe  20  connected thereto by the adaptor  23  also reciprocates. As a result, the cutting tool  40  assembled to an end of the inner pipe  20  reciprocates to perform a grinding or cutting operation of a facial bone using the cutting blade  41 . 
         [0052]    In addition, at the same time the surgical operation is performed, a saline solution is supplied into the surgical operation portion through the saline solution supply path  32  and the gap  44   a  of the surgery apparatus  10  in communication with the saline supply path  3   a  of the hand piece  1 , and foreign substances such as the bone fragments and saline solution generated during the surgical operation are discharged through the foreign substance suction path  22  of the surgery apparatus  10  in communication with the foreign substance suction path  4   a  of the hand piece  4   a.    
         [0053]    At this time, since the outer pipe  30  has the bent section  31  and the flexible inner pipe  20  transmits reciprocal movement of the hand piece  1  to another cutting tool  40  having a movement direction different from the reciprocal movement, a surgical operation having a cutting direction of the facial bone different from an introduction direction of the cutting tool  40  through the incision part can be performed. 
         [0054]    In addition, as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , since the assembly angle of the cutting tool  40  can be varied in a circumferential direction about the assembly axis a, it is possible to freely set a direction of the cutting blade  41  of the cutting tool  40  with respect to the surgical operation portion regardless of an introduction direction of the outer pipe  30 . 
         [0055]    Further, as shown in  FIGS. 6 and 9 , since the assembly angle of the outer pipe  30  can be varied in a circumferential direction about the assembly axis b, it is possible to vary the assembly angle into a direction convenient to enter the bent direction of the outer pipe  30  depending on the incision part and the surgical operation portion. 
         [0056]    As described above, since the outer pipe  30  is bent to make the introduction direction of the cutting tool  40  different from the cutting direction, and the direction of the cutting blade  41  of the cutting tool  40  and the bending direction of the outer pipe  30  can be changed in a variety of different ways, it is possible to perform a facial bone surgery under the condition of a limited incision or approach angle. In addition, since the cutting tool  40  can be detachably attached to the inner pipe  20 , another type of cutting tool can be simply and readily exchanged. 
         [0057]    Further, if a design of the connection structure of the outer pipe  30  and the inner pipe  20  in addition to the hand piece  1  is changed, the cutting tool can be connected to another type of hand piece  1 . While this invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains that various modifications may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims and their equivalents. 
         [0058]    As can be seen from the foregoing, a bent section is formed at an insertion part to be inserted into an incision part, and power transmission can be performed in the bent section such that a cutting operation having a different angle than a moving direction of a straight reciprocating member installed at an hand piece can be performed, thereby performing a surgical operation under the condition of a limited incision or approach angle.