Patent Publication Number: US-2021169534-A1

Title: Apparatus for Spinal Surgery of Inserting Rod

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present disclosure relates to a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod, configured to insert the rod into an implant structure. 
     Related Art 
     Generally, the spine is composed of  24  bones (excluding sacral spine), which are connected by joints called disks between the respective bones to support the spine and absorb shocks. Thereby, the spine can help to maintain the posture of the human, form the basis of movement, and play an important role in protecting internal organs. 
     However, if an abnormal posture is maintained for a long time, the spine suffers from degenerative diseases due to aging or is subjected to external shocks, the disk of the spinal joint may be damaged, thus resulting in spinal disk diseases. These spinal disk diseases compress nerves connected to respective parts of the human body via the spinal joints, thus causing pain. 
     Therefore, patients having the spinal disk diseases undergo the following procedure: a disk of a damaged region is removed so that a damaged part of the vertebra is not pressed or compressed, an artificial aid (cage) made of hollow metal or plastic materials is filled with bone chips to be inserted into the region from which the disk has been removed, and then a screw is fixedly inserted into the vertebra of each of upper and lower regions of the damaged disk. Thereafter, a rod is connected to the screw to secure a distance between the vertebrae and thereby allow bone fusion to be normally performed. 
     The spinal surgery may be performed by incising the skin of a damaged spinal region, removing or leaving the damaged disk, fixedly inserting the screw into the vertebra of each of upper and lower portions of the damaged disk, connecting the rod thereto, and fastening a bolt to the screw of the fixed disk. 
     That is, an implant structure placed in the vertebra may be built by fixedly inserting the rod into the screw that is fixed using the spinal surgery apparatus. 
     The spinal surgery apparatus is inserted into the spinal region with the rod being fixed to an end of the apparatus, and is fixedly inserted into an upper portion of the screw to connect a previously inserted screw to the screw. The spinal surgery is advantageous to patients when it is minimally invasive. However, in the state where the spinal surgery apparatus moves backwards after the rod is fixed, the apparatus is taken out from the spinal region. Thus, in order to secure a space, a large incision is made around the spinal region, thereby increasing an invasion. 
     As such, if the invasion increases during the spinal surgery, the bleeding of a surgical site is increased, the recovery is delayed, and the scar of the surgical site is also increased. 
     CITED REFERENCE 
     Patent Document 
     (Patent Document 1) Korean Patent No. 10-1111666 (Title of Invention: Apparatus of spinal surgical operation for minimally invasive surgery, laid open on Aug. 30, 2010) 
     (Patent Document 2) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2019-0108269 (Title of Invention: Spinal surgery device, laid open on Sep. 24, 2019) 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure provides a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod, which allows a rod forming an implant structure to be easily inserted and fixed, thus facilitating spinal surgery and minimizing invasions during the spinal surgery, thus helping a patient&#39;s recovery. 
     In an aspect, a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod may include a handle gripped by a user, a fixing shaft connected to the handle, having on a lower end thereof a fixing part to which the rod is fixed, and separating the fixing part from the rod while the fixing shaft is tilted forwards, an actuating part including a connecting shaft inserted into the handle, and an actuating member installed on an end of the connecting shaft to move the connecting shaft up and down by rotation, and a rod push shaft inserted into the fixing shaft, and simultaneously coming at an upper end thereof into contact with a lower end of the connecting shaft, so that the rod push shaft is moved down by an operation of the actuating part, thus pushing and fixing the rod. 
     The fixing part may include a fixing hole into which an end of the rod is fixedly inserted, and a fixing groove formed above the fixing hole with a step therebetween, thus allowing the fixing shaft to be tilted. 
     The fixing groove may define a moving space of the fixing shaft, and inclination parts may be formed on both sides of a lower portion of the fixing shaft. 
     A tilting angle of the fixing shaft may range from 30° to 60° with respect to a vertical state of the fixing shaft. 
     An inflow groove may be longitudinally formed in a rear portion of the fixing shaft to introduce blood therein. 
     A spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod according to the present disclosure is advantageous in that it allows a rod forming an implant structure to be easily inserted and fixed, thus facilitating spinal surgery and minimizing invasions during the spinal surgery, thus helping a patient&#39;s recovery and leaving only a small scar in a surgical site. 
     Furthermore, since it is easy to clean a spinal surgery apparatus, it is possible to effectively keep the entire apparatus clean. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a state in which the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure is tilted. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating the appearance of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a rod insertion part of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating a fixing shaft of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a state in which the rod is fixedly inserted into a screw with the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure is not limited or restricted by the embodiment. Further, in describing the present disclosure, specific details of known functions or configurations may be omitted to clarify the gist of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a spinal surgery apparatus for inserting a rod in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a state in which the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure is tilted. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the spinal surgery apparatus  1  for inserting the rod in accordance with the present disclosure may include a handle  10  gripped by a user, a fixing shaft  20 , an actuating part  30 , and a rod push shaft  40 , and may insert a rod  2  fixed to the fixing shaft  20  into a screw  3  fixed to the spine, thus building an implant structure  100 . 
     According to this embodiment, the fixing shaft  20  of the spinal surgery apparatus  1  is connected to the handle  10 , and a fixing part  20   a  to which the rod  2  is fixed is provided on a lower end of the fixing shaft  20 . While the fixing shaft  20  is tilted forwards, the fixing part  20   a  may be separated from the rod  2 . 
     The fixing shaft  20  fixedly inserts the rod  2  into the fixing part  20   a  provided on an end thereof. In this state, after the rod  2  is inserted into a spinal surgical site, the fixing shaft  20  is tilted forwards, so that the rod  2  is separated from the fixing part  20   a.  The rod  2  separated from the fixing part  20   a  is fixedly inserted into the screw  3  forming the implant structure  100 . 
     Furthermore, the actuating part  30  includes a connecting shaft  31  inserted into the handle  10 , and an actuating member  32  installed on an end of the connecting shaft  31  to move the connecting shaft  31  up and down by rotation. The rod push shaft  40  is inserted into the fixing shaft  20 , and simultaneously its upper end comes into contact with the lower end of the connecting shaft  31 , so that the rod push shaft is moved down by the operation of the actuating part  30 , thus pushing and fixing the rod  2 . 
     In other words, the spinal surgery apparatus  1  may fix or release the rod  2  by the operation of the actuating part  30  and the movement of the rod push shaft  40 . If the actuating member  32  of the actuating part  30  is rotated with the rod  2  being inserted into the fixing part  20   a  on the lower end of the fixing shaft  20 , the connecting shaft  31  moves down and the rod push shaft  40  connected therewith moves down, so that the lower end of the rod push shaft  40  may push the rod  2  and thereby the rod  2  may be fixed to the lower end of the fixing shaft  20 . 
     According to this embodiment, the fixing part  20   a  forming the lower end of the fixing shaft  20  has a fixing hole  21  into which the end of the rod  2  is fixedly inserted, and a fixing groove  22  is formed above the fixing hole  21  with a step therebetween, thus allowing the fixing shaft  20  to be tilted. The fixing groove  22  may define the moving space of the fixing shaft  20 , and inclination parts  22   a  may be formed on both sides of a lower portion of the fixing shaft. 
     After the rod  2  inserted into the fixing hole  21  is inserted into the screw  3 , the fixing shaft  20  is tilted forwards, so that the rod  2  may be removed from the fixing hole  21 . To this end, in order to tilt the fixing shaft  20 , the fixing groove  22  and the inclination parts  22   a  are formed on the fixing part  20   a.    
     The fixing groove  22  formed above the fixing hole  21  with the step therebetween may secure a tilting space in the lower end of the fixing shaft  20 . The inclination parts  22   a  allow the movement of the lower end of the fixing shaft  20  to be smoothly guided. 
     Furthermore, the tilting angle θ of the fixing shaft  20  may range from 30° to 60° with respect to the vertical state of the fixing shaft  20 . The tilting angle θ of the fixing shaft  20  is minimized to allow minimally invasive surgery during the spinal surgery. Thus, the tilting angle is preferably about 30°. 
     After the rod  2  is fixedly inserted into the screw  3  of the implant structure  100 , the rod  2  is released by rotating the actuating member  32 . In this state, the fixing shaft  20  is tilted, so that the rod  2  is removed from the fixing hole  21  of the fixing part  20   a.  Next, the fixing shaft  20  is lifted upwards, so that the spinal surgery apparatus  1  may be taken out from the surgical site. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating the appearance of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a rod insertion part of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating the fixing shaft of the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 to 6 , the spinal surgery apparatus  1  inserts the rod  2  into the spinal surgical site in the state in which the rod  2  forming the implant structure  100  is fixed to the fixing part  20   a  disposed on the lower end of the fixing shaft  20  connected to the handle  10 . The fixed state of the rod  2  inserted into the fixing hole  21  of the fixing part  20   a  is released, and the fixing shaft  20  is tilted through the fixing groove  22  of the fixing part  20   a,  thus allowing the rod  2  to be removed from the fixing hole  21 . 
     Furthermore, an inflow groove  23  may be longitudinally formed in a rear portion of the fixing shaft  20  to introduce blood therein. The blood introduced into the fixing shaft  20  through the inflow groove  23  can be more effectively cleaned. 
       FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a state in which the rod is fixedly inserted into the screw with the spinal surgery apparatus for inserting the rod in accordance with the embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a process of fixedly inserting the rod  2  into the screw  3  of the implant structure  100  using the spinal surgery apparatus  1  will be described. First, in the state where the rod  2  is fixed to the fixing part  20   a  of the spinal surgery apparatus  1 , the fixing shaft  20  is inserted into the surgical site and the rod  2  is inserted into the upper portion of the screw  3 . In this state, the actuating member  32  of the spinal surgery apparatus  1  is rotated to release the rod  2  fixed to the fixing part  20   a,  and the handle  10  is tilted forwards to tilt the fixing shaft  20 , thus removing the rod  2  from the fixing hole  21  of the fixing part  20   a.    
     The fixing shaft  20  from which the rod  2  has been removed lifts the handle  10  upwards, so that the apparatus is taken out from the surgical site with the fixing shaft  20  being in a vertical position. Thus, the spinal surgery apparatus  1  allows minimally invasive surgery. In contrast, according to the related art, since the fixing shaft  20  removed from the rod  2  moves backwards and then the fixing shaft  20  is taken out from the surgical site, minimally invasive surgery is difficult. 
     Therefore, the spinal surgery apparatus  1  allows the rod  2  forming the implant structure  100  to be easily inserted and fixed, thus facilitating spinal surgery and minimizing invasions during the spinal surgery, thus helping a patient&#39;s recovery and leaving only a small scar in the surgical site. 
     Furthermore, since it is easy to clean the spinal surgery apparatus  1 , it is possible to effectively keep the entire apparatus clean. 
     Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments for illustrating the principle of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described configuration and operation. Rather, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many changes and modifications of the present disclosure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.