SPINAL FIXATION AIMING DEVICE

A spinal fixation aiming device including an arc guide rail; an arc slide unit movably coupled to the arc guide rail; and a tool holder mounted to the arc slide unit and movable to a predetermined position to be selectively fixed at the position. To operate, the arc guide rail is fixed to an operation table and the arc slide unit and the tool holder are adjusted for desired angles for a surgical operation. The adjustment is conducted such that through collaborative combination between the arc guide rail and the arc slide unit, the tool holder is constantly kept corresponding to a spinal fixation nailing site of a patient so as to achieve an effect of easy operation and accurate aiming

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a novel spinal fixation aiming device, and more particularly to one for use in spine related surgeries.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

The modern spinal fixation surgeries are generally conducted by incising the back of a patient along a central line and cutting off supraspinous ligaments. The muscles next to the spine are pushed aside by periosteal elevators to a nailing site for fixation and the muscles are held in such a position by being pulled to two sides by hooks. This leads to tendons that are attached to the spine being cut off and damage of the muscles and tendons around the spine would inevitably occur. The following disadvantage would happen:

(1) When the surgery is completed and the muscles are stitched back, the muscles and tendons that are around the spine cannot be placed back and held at the site before the surgery and this would severely damage the muscles of the surgery patient.

(2) There is an excessively wide dead space and this would lead to epidural fibrosis after the surgery, making the result of operation poor.

(3) The spine would become unstable after the surgery due to supraspinous ligaments, vertebral spine, and interspinous ligaments of the patient all being cut off

To overcome the drawbacks of the conventional spinal fixation surgeries, minimal invasion spinal fixation surgeries that have a minimal incision and the minimum extent of damage of muscular tissues have been proposed. Two commonly used processes have been adopted for minimal invasion spinal fixation surgeries. The first one is that fixation is conducted by way of percutaneous pedicle and implantation and the second one is using an expansion sleeve to conduct fixation with visual observation. However, there are still drawbacks as follows:

(I) Fixation by Way of Percutaneous Pedicle:

(1) Excessive light transmission would occur during the process of the surgery and may cause damage to the vision of the surgeons and the patient.

(2) For most bone fractures of high location lumbar vertebra or thoracic vertebra, retrogressive low waist detachment or instability of spine would result, leading to high difficulty of surgery and being not used often.

(3) The implants and devices used in the surgery are specially designed for percutaneous surgeries and thus, the cost for developing such surgery devices is expensive.

(II) Fixation by Way of Expansion Sleeve:

(1) Although direct visual observation is possible for surgeons, the fixation nailing site is often full of densely distributed blood vessels related to wide circulation, making it often to cause massive bleeding during the operation. In addition, the surgery wound at the nailing site is generally deep, leading to undesired influence on the eyesight of the surgeon and thus difficulty of the surgical operation.

(2) The expansion sleeve, the implant, and the surgery devices fused in the surgical operation may often hit each other and thus cause interference with the performance of the surgical operation.

(3) The expansion sleeve used in the surgery is not light transmittable and may block the light of a surgical lighting device during the performance of the surgery.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a spinal fixation aiming device, which comprises an arc guide rail, which when put into use, is fixed to an operation table and an arc slide unit and a tool holder are movable are adjusted for desired angles for a surgical operation. The adjustment is conducted such that through collaborative combination between the arc guide rail and the arc slide unit, the tool holder is constantly kept corresponding to a spinal fixation nailing site of a patient so as to achieve an effect of easy operation and accurate aiming

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a spinal fixation aiming device, which comprises: an arc guide rail; an arc slide unit movably coupled to the arc guide rail; and a tool holder mounted to the arc slide unit and movable to a predetermined position to be selectively fixed at the position.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the arc guide rail has an end to which a fixing bar is mounted.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the arc slide unit comprises a base, guide sections respectively extending from opposite ends of the base, and through holes respectively formed in the guide sections for movably coupling to the arc guide rail.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the tool holder comprises a tool support section, slidable sleeves respectively mounted to opposite sides of the tool support section and respectively coupled to the guide sections, internal threading sections respectively extending to and communicating with the slidable sleeves, and threading fasteners respectively engaging with the internal threading sections.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the arc guide rail, the arc slide unit, and the tool holder are each made of a light-transmitting material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring toFIGS. 1-3, which are respectively a perspective view and an exploded view of the present invention and a cross-sectional view illustrating an operation of the present invention, as shown in the drawings, the present invention provides a spinal fixation aiming device, which comprises at least an arc guide rail1, an arc slide unit2, and a tool holder3. The arc guide rail1, the arc slide unit2, and the tool holder3are each made of a light-transmitting material.

The arc guide rail1has an end to which a fixing bar11is mounted.

The arc slide unit2is movably coupled to the arc guide rail1. The arc slide unit2comprises a base21, guide sections22respectively extending from opposite ends of the base21and opposite to each other, and through holes23respectively formed in the guide sections22for movably coupling to the arc guide rail1.

The tool holder3is mounted to the arc slide unit2and is movable to a predetermined location and selectively fixed at the location. The tool holder3comprises a tool support section31, slidable sleeves32respectively mounted to opposite sides of the tool support section31and respectively coupled to the guide sections22, internal threading sections33respectively extending to and communicating with the slidable sleeves32, and threading fasteners34respectively engaging with the internal threading sections33. As such, with the above-described technical features properly assembled, a novel spinal fixation aiming device is provided.

To use the present invention, the arc guide rail1is fixed by the fixing bar11to an operation table (not shown) to allow for adjustment of the angle and position of the arc slide unit2on the arc guide rail1. To conduct the adjustment, a surgeon may directly apply a force to the base21(or one or two of the guide sections22) for movement thereof, whereby the guide sections22are moved by means of the through holes23sliding along the arc guide rail1in order to adjust the angle thereof, in a left-right direction, (the movable range of angle being for example 0-45 degrees), and then a desired position of the tool holder3on the arc slide unit2is adjusted. To adjust the position, the surgeon may directly apply a force to one of the threading fasteners34to cause the slidable sleeves32to move along the guide sections22in order to adjust the angle thereof, in a front-rear direction, (the movable range of angle being for example 0-45 degrees). After the desired position is reached through the adjustment, a force is applied to screw each of the threading fasteners34into the respective internal threading section33in such a way that an end of each of the threading fasteners34is made abutting the respective guide sections22for fixing. Further, the arc guide rail1and the arc slide unit2are arranged together to form a spherical surface, and the tool support section31is kept to always aim at a spinal fixation nailing site of the patient (which corresponds to the center of the sphere) for any position to which the arc slide unit2or the tool holder3is moved so that a surgical device can be easily mounted to and supported on the tool support section31to allow the surgeons to easily carry out the surgical operation.

Further, the arc guide rail1, the arc slide unit2, and the tool holder3are designed to be formed of light-transmitting materials so that no shadow may be cast by the lighting of surgical lights, allowing for a better range of eyesight of the surgeon during the surgical operation. Further, after the adjustment has been done and the nailing site adjacent to the spine of the patient has been fixed by the surgical device, X-ray photographing may be conducted directly so that the time period in which the surgeon may be exposed to X-ray radiation is significantly shortened and convenience of use during the surgical operation may be achieved.

In summary, the present invention provides a spinal fixation aiming device that effectively overcomes the drawbacks and shortcomings of the prior art devices and allows an arc guide rail to be fixed to an operation table during the use thereof and allows for adjustment of angles of an arc slide unit and a tool holder to suit the needs of the surgical operation. During the adjustment conducted by a surgeon, the collaborative combination between the arc guide rail and the arc slide unit allows the tool holder to aim at or correspond to the spinal fixation nailing site of the patient at any angle so as to achieve an effect of easy operation and accurate aiming