Surgery – Instruments – Orthopedic instrumentation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-05
2002-10-01
Philogene, Pedro (Department: 3732)
Surgery
Instruments
Orthopedic instrumentation
C606S075000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06458132
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spine supporting system for correcting or fixing a spine to be a stable state at a diseased part in spine operation.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, a spinal column (referred to as a ‘spine’ in the followings) of a normal human body standing erectly appears to be a straight line in front view and ‘Lasy-S’ curved in side view. That is, the thoracic spine has a shape gently bent backwardly in side view, while the cervical spine and the lumber spine has a shape bent forwardly.
In the human body, the spine forms a curve of ‘Lasy-S’ by connecting a plurality of bodies of spine with a disk, one section of the spine consists of cylindrical body and the arch located backward, the posterior spinal arch comprises a spinal canal with a pair of pedicles, superior or inferior facets extending backwardly from the pedicles, laminas and a spinous process, and a nerve is located through the spinal canal.
In such a spine, when the disk connecting the body is degenerated and ruptured so that it is separated from regular position or a joint consist of a rear projection of the spine is damaged and degenerated, and when the external force is loaded to or press the nerve passing through the spinal canal with various reasons such that the spine has a deformity and displacement from the normal position, it is known that pains are caused.
Therefore, since the pain are occurred continuously when the spine is in unstable state as mentioned above, the diseased part of the spine should be decompressed in order to kill the pains, and an operation correcting or fixing a spine to be a stable state, is required due to the unstable state of the spine in decompressing.
Namely, in case of a patient of which a part of the spine is broken or damaged, a corresponding spine or adjacent spine is supported through an operation using the spine supporting system. The spine supporting system used in this case, comprises a screw inserted to the damaged or adjacent upper and lower spinal pedicle of the spine as a supporting structure, a rod inserted in each of the screw, and a inner bolt and outer cap for fixing the rod to the screw.
Referring to FIG.
1
-
FIG. 3
, the spine supporting system according to the prior art will be explained roughly.
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a spine supporting system according to the prior art,
FIG. 2
is a perspective view showing an operation process by a spine supporting system of the prior art,
FIG. 3
is a sectional view showing an operation state by a spine supporting system of the prior art, and
FIG. 4
is a perspective view for describing difficulties of an operation by a spine supporting system of the prior art.
In these figures, a reference numeral
10
is a screw having a head
12
and a body
14
formed to be integrated with a lower part of the head
12
, a reference numeral
20
is an inner bolt screwed in the head
12
of the screw
10
, a reference numeral
30
is an outer cap for improving the holding force of the inner bolt
20
by covering the head
12
of the screw
10
, and a reference numeral
40
is a rod inserted in the head
12
of the screw
10
to connecting the screws
10
each other.
The head
12
of the screw
10
could be described divided into an inner structure and outer structure. The inner structure of the head
12
includes a female thread
11
for the inner bolt
20
and ‘U’ shaped groove
16
for passing and fixing the rod
40
which connects the spine supporting system described below, and the outer structure of the head
12
includes a cap-assembled surface
13
covered with the outer cap
30
to prevent the decrease of strength in the head
12
due to the formation of the groove
16
and to increase the fixation and a head block
17
formed at an lower part of a cap-assembled surface
13
and connected with the body
14
.
The body
14
of the screw
10
has a lengthy cone shape and is formed at a circumference thereof with a male thread, and an upper part thereof is integrated with the lower part of the head
12
. And, a point
18
for the insertion to the spine is formed at a lower end of the body
14
.
The upper surface of the inner bolt
20
is formed with a tool insertion hole
22
in which assembling tool is inserted and along with a whole circumference, a male thread
24
joined with the female thread
11
is formed.
The outer cap
30
includes an inner cavity
32
assembled with the cap assembled surface
17
and an upper surface
34
formed perpendicularly relative to the length direction.
The rod
40
has a diameter so as to be inserted in the groove
16
of the screw
16
.
The function of the spine supporting system according to the prior art will be described referring to the FIG.
2
and FIG.
3
. Firstly, describing the general operation procedure briefly, with incision and opening a skin of the operated part, the position in which the screw is inserted normal to the pedicle of the corresponding spine, is indicated, and then a hole is formed with a drill and the like. (Drilling Procedure)
A tapping matching a pitch of the spine supporting system, is performed at the drilling hole and the spine supporting system(specifically, the body
14
) is driven in the spine with the tool
100
and so on. Then, when the required number of screw
10
is screwed to be fixed in the pedicle of the spine
200
as described above, the rod
40
which is bent suitable for the curvature of the spine, is inserted in the groove
16
. Subsequently, the inner bolt
20
set in the female thread
12
a
is rotated several times with the tool
100
so that the rod
40
is preliminarily fixed. After the outer cap
30
covers the cap assembled surface
13
of the head
12
, the rod
40
is fixed in the screw
10
rigidly by joining the inner bolt
20
tightly and the skin is sutured to complete the spine operation.
Therefore, as shown in
FIG. 2
, it is known that in the state the body
14
is fixed rigidly in the spine of the patient, the rod
40
is fixed rigidly in the groove
16
, and further in the inner bolt
20
and screw
10
, it is said that the fixation of the head
12
is stronger by the outer cap
30
.
However, in the operation by the spine supporting system according to the prior art, the following defects and problems are occurring.
1. The difficulties in the insertion of the outer cap
30
and the initial setting of the inner bolt
20
.
In the spine operation using the spine supporting system of the prior art wherein the rod
40
is fixed in the head
12
of the screw
10
by joining the inner bolt
20
in the female thread
12
a,
the outer cap
30
is joined after the inner bolt
20
is joined in the female thread
11
.
This joining sequence causes the following problems. In actual operation, since the incision area of the skin is adjusted as small as possible and the inner bolt
20
has a diameter only 4 mm, it is very difficult to join the small inner bolt
20
in the female thread
11
of the head
12
with initial centering in the narrow space of operation without any guide means.
On the other hand, referring to
FIG. 4
, according to conditions the rod
40
is not bent suitably. In this case the operation condition is worse, since the small inner bolt
20
is joined in the female thread
11
where the rod
40
is more curved upwardly in the groove
16
. That is, as the inner bolt
20
could be joined unsuitably interrupted by the rod
40
, the operator could be annoyed at the trial for centering in limited operation time.
According to the joining of the inner bolt
20
prior to the outer cap
30
, the centering of the inner bolt
20
is not achieved easily and the rapid joining is not easy due to the sliding and pitching during inserting, and therefore the operation is difficult and hard.
In addition, although the inner bolt
20
is inserted in the female thread
11
, the bulging-out effect of the cap assembled surface
13
is occurring by the strength decrease due to the groove
16
of the head
12
as the fixa
Choi Gil-Woon
Mathews, Collins Shepherd & McKay, P.A.
Philogene Pedro
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