Abstract:
Driving apparatuses for surgical instruments are provided. Such apparatuses are capable of reuse without having to be sterilized in an autoclave. This reduces time as well as costs associated with surgical interventions in the areas of orthopaedic surgery and surgery related to trauma, for example.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a National Phase Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2012/051374, International Filing Date, Mar. 22, 2012, claiming priority to Italian Patent Application No. PE2011A000003, filed Mar. 23, 2011, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a driving apparatus for a surgical device of the type driven by a motor, destined in particular for the manipulation of skeletal bones, such as for trapanation, drilling or resection, in the specific field of orthopaedics and traumatology, but also in the wider field of general surgery. 
     The invention also relates to a surgical device equipped with such driving apparatus. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The orthopaedic appliances used for the surgical manipulation of bones are of the type driven pneumatically, with compressed air or an electric motor. Electrically driven devices are powered both from the mains power supply and by battery. 
     In addition, surgical devices are generally multi-function in the sense that they can drive various surgical instruments, even though the type dedicated to performance of a single function exist, such as in the case of sawing bones, which entails driving characterised by a rectilinear, alternate movement, therefore not circular. 
     The intended use of such surgical appliances presumes compliance with extremely strict safety standards. In this context, it is easy to see that the functioning of the driving apparatus of surgical devices—also called “drivers” in the present invention—must not present any interruption during the surgical operation. This means that drivers with a relatively long lifespan must be provided: this is the reason for which such drivers are subject to stringent testing to reduce as far as possible—it not being possible to eliminate them completely—interruptions to functioning during surgery. 
     In addition, when batteries are used to power electric motor drivers, they must have an appropriate voltage and long life: classically, the lithium type is preferred. 
     In certain cases the driver of the surgical device must also guarantee the possibility of varying the speed of the instrument, depending on the requirements related to the type of operation. 
     Overall, these drivers must be as light, manageable and easy to use as possible: from this point of view, one may easily see that the ergonomic nature of the grip of the driver is practically obligatory. 
     Of course, the question of asepsis also concerns the surgical appliances fitted with instruments intended for general surgery. 
     Normally, two main solutions are essentially used to ensure asepsis. A first solution consists of making a driver, preferably of the electric motor type, bearing a fully waterproof casing, inside which the electric motor, the power supply battery of such motor and the electric connection cables are enclosed. After each operation, such driver with waterproof casing is subjected, of course jointly with the surgical instrument (or surgical instruments in the case in which various have been used during the operation), to sterilisation in an autoclave, so as to make it suitable for another operation. Such solution has the advantage of permitting repeated use in sterile conditions of the waterproof driver. However, this is very expensive since making the driver waterproof and sterilising it requires, on the one hand, the use of appropriate materials and, on the other, the use of a specific manufacturing procedure, factors which inevitably reflect on the final costs, necessarily high, of such type of driver. 
     In addition, the lifetime of the device is considerably reduced as a result of the thermal stress imposed on the driver and the components enclosed within the casing and despite the measures adopted for its realisation (these measures regard the quality and appropriate thickness of the plastic material which the casing is preferably made from). In any case, the reduced lifespan of a waterproof driver—and therefore the need to replace it frequently—contributes, together with the waterproofing of its casing and the sterilisation in an autoclave, to making the relative cost of such solution even higher. 
     A second solution is of the disposable, single-use type and entails using a driver destined for use only once, thereby eliminating the need to subject it to sterilisation in an autoclave. This enables the use of less expensive materials and components even though the once-only use of such driver ends up heavily influencing costs, in that a different driver must be used for every operation. 
     From the above, the fact that both the extreme solutions used in the prior art, that is to say of a reusable waterproof driver and of a disposable driver, share the disadvantage of high maintenance and/or running costs, clearly emerges. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention aims therefore to make driver apparatuses for surgical instruments which better satisfy the needs of the art compared to the devices of the same type used in the prior art and which proposes devices (or drivers) for surgical instruments as described and claimed herein. 
     The invention also relates to a surgical appliance of the type driven by an electric motor, and therefore necessarily associated with a driver for the manipulation of skeletal bones, especially in the field of orthopaedics and traumatology, which is fitted with a driver apparatus according to the present invention as described and claimed herein. 
     One advantage of the motor driver according to the present invention is that the aseptic nature of its use is ensured without having to subject it to the process of sterilisation in an autoclave, onerous both in terms of thermal stress and costs. 
     Another advantage is the possibility of rapidly replacing the drive motor or power supply battery even during an operation, without by so doing foregoing the required aseptic conditions. 
     A further advantage, certainly not to be overlooked, and direct consequence of the two advantages previously indicated, is the considerable reduction in production, maintenance and running costs. 
     Of course, other advantages emerge from the present invention as described and claimed herein. 
     Non-limiting embodiments of a motor driver for surgical instruments according to the invention is described below by way of non-limiting examples with reference to the appended drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view in vertical elevation of the essential constituent elements of the driver according to the invention, also showing a surgical instrument destined to be driven by such driver. 
         FIG. 2  corresponds to  FIG. 1  and differs from it in that the elements shown in the latter are represented separately, while in the present drawing they are shown positioned inside a casing of the driver, also showing the application of a surgical instrument to the proximal end of the driver; 
         FIG. 3  shows a detail, on a larger scale, of  FIG. 2 , highlighting the interconnection device between the drive shaft and the driven shaft; 
         FIG. 4  is a further detail, on an even larger scale than  FIG. 4 , of  FIG. 2  highlighting the interconnection device between the drive shaft and the driven shaft and showing in particular the isolation or separation means of these two shafts, according to the present invention; 
         FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  7  are three perspective views respectively of the driver according to the invention in its entirety, of the driver at the moment it is about to receive inside it the electric motor and of the driver at the moment it is about to receive inside it, according to a logical sequence, the power supply battery of such motor; these figures also show the ergonomic nature of the apparatus in its entirety; 
         FIGS. 8 ,  9 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12  and  13  show the same number of perspective views of the apparatus according to the invention, destined to highlight the greater number of construction details of the same: respectively being, in the order indicated, a view from a left and right anterior angular observation point, anterior front view, a posterior front view and of a right and left lateral view; 
         FIG. 14  is a view from above of a possible kit, placed in a containment case, destined for the commercialisation of the apparatus according to the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The driver  100  which the following description relates to is of the type destined to drive a surgical instrument  10  by means of an electric motor  20  in turn powered by a battery  30 : the conformation of such battery meets the need to adapt to the ergonomic configuration, in particular of the grip  40  (see in particular  FIG. 2 ) of the apparatus  100 . The surgical instrument  10  is connected to the apparatus  100  by a shaft  60 , corresponding to the driven shaft, in turn driven by a shaft  50 , corresponding to the drive shaft: of course, the driven shaft is kept in position in an appropriate manner, clearly shown in the drawings. A control button  70 , to turn the driver  100  on and off, is built in to the front wall of the latter. All the previous elements—the electric motor  20 , the drive shaft  50 , the driven shaft  60  and the power supply battery  30 —are destined to be housed in a casing  80  (see  FIG. 2 ), of which the ergonomic grip  40  is an integral part. According to the invention, the driver apparatus  100  also comprises an interconnection device  90  of the drive shaft  50  and the driven shaft  60 , of which a proximal end  91  and distal end  92  may be distinguished. Such interconnection device  90  acts in conjunction with an isolation—or separation—means  200  between the drive shaft  50  and the driven shaft  60  and encloses, at least partially, the interconnection device  90  between these two shafts  50  and  60 . 
     Such isolation device is intended to avoid any direct contact between the drive shaft  50  and the driven shaft  60  so as to prevent the propagation of any accidental contamination from the drive shaft  50  to the driven shaft  60  and thus to the surgical instrument  10 . 
     Within the scope of this invention, the casing  80  is removable and interchangeable and is destined to be sterilised before the insertion of the motor  20 , the battery  30  and the control button  70  as well as the necessary electric connection cables (not shown in the drawings for the sake of simplicity) inside it, and therefore before use. 
     According to a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the driver according to the invention, the separation (or isolation) means consists of a chamber  200  impermeable to pathogens (see in particular  FIG. 4 ), Such chamber  200  defines an inner space  250 , through co-operation of a proximal transversal wall  210 , a distal transversal wall  220  and an axial wall  230  (the transversal or axial nature of such walls refers to the axis of the drive shaft  50 , as shown in the drawings). 
     The impermeabilisation chamber  200  is destined to be positioned, at least partially, around the interconnection device  90  and comprises, so as to assure the necessary impermeabilisation, a proximal ring  261  and distal ring  262 , ensuring the seal, respectively of a proximal axial opening  241  and a distal axial opening  242  made respectively in the proximal transversal wall  210  and in the distal transversal wall  220  of the impermeabilisation chamber  200 . 
     The sealing rings  261 ,  262  are suitable for being kept in position through axial compression ribs  270  integral with the interconnection means  90 . 
     The interconnection device  90  advantageously has its proximal end  91  and its distal end  92  shaped in such a way as to ensure the rapid and stable positioning of such device inside the casing  80  by means for example of a simple recessing or slotting together of its ends (not shown in the drawings for reasons of clarity but known to the person skilled in the art). 
     According to the invention, the impermeabilisation chamber  200  is made preferably in the inner wall of such casing  80 , as shown in particular in  FIG. 3 : in such case the casing and the chamber are therefore made in one piece. 
     An alternative solution to such last arrangement consists of making the casing  80  and the chamber  200  in separate pieces: in such case, the chamber is designed to be inserted around the interconnection device  90  and to be positioned inside the casing in a suitable seat made in the inner wall of such. Such alternative solution has not been illustrated so as not to burden the description and the already extensive number of drawings attached thereto, but its practical realisation falls within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art on the basis of the description—albeit concise, but complete of the essential elements—which has just been given. 
     Preferably but not necessarily exclusively, the impermeabilisation chamber  200  is cylindrical. 
     In addition, it may be advantageous to position a further sealing ring (not shown in the drawings for simplicity&#39;s sake) in the grip  40  of the appliance  200 , at the interface with the control means  70  built in to such grip. 
     Both the sealing rings  261 ,  262 , respectively proximal and distal, of the impermeabilisation chamber  200  and the sealing ring of the control means  70 , are advantageously removable. 
     The present invention also relates to a surgical appliance  1000 —of the type driven by an electric motor, and therefore necessarily associated with a driver—for the manipulation of skeletal bones, especially in the field of orthopaedics and traumatology, which is fitted with a driver apparatus  100  according to the present invention.