Patent Application
20070100345
The present invention relates to orthopedics and more particularly to a method and apparatus for securing surgical cable around bone.
The use of surgical cable and crimp assemblies to fix bone parts and to join them together until the bone heals is a well-known technique. Surgical procedures on and in the vicinity of a bone with closely neighboring nerves, arteries, muscle, ligaments, complicated anatomical structures, and delicate areas represent a difficult and time consuming task for the surgeon. Thus it is important for the cable and crimp device to be assembled accurately, minimizing stress, trauma, risk, and injury to a patient, and with little difficulty for a surgeon performing such procedures, in as rapid a time frame as possible.
Furthermore it is desirable to maintain the bulk of the cable as well as the joint where the cable is affixed to itself as compact as possible to minimize discomfort to the patient and damage to the surrounding tissue.
The orthopedic procedure is as follows: the cable, isolated from the crimp member, is inserted to loop around the bone in a minimally invasive way. After the cable is looped around the bone, its beaded first end is inserted into the cavity of the first hole of the crimp member. The slot at the first hole of the crimp member allows the first end of the cable to slide in place until the bead locks in its final position. The second end of the cable is then inserted through the second hole of the crimp member. Then the cable is tensioned by application of a tensioning tool either directly to the cable or trough a provisional crimp, to an abutment face of the crimp close to the second hole of the crimp member. Once the desired final tension is established, the crimp member is crimped into the cable, the tensioning tool is removed, and the free end of the cable at the abutment face of the crimp is cut off.
Different surgical tools have heretofore been known. However, none of the tools adequately satisfies these aforementioned needs. Most of the surgical tools heretofore known require pulling from both cable ends, after the cable is looped around the bone, as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,649,927 and 6,017,347. These kinds of devices have the problem of requiring significant spreading of the incision and muscle trauma. As a result, they are not a good solution to work in restricted areas.
Other devices allow to tension the cable by application of a tensioning tool to one of the cable ends and to an abutment face of the crimp by using a surgical cable which is factory crimped to one of the holes of the crimp, as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,820, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,077,268 and 6,387,099. The same effect is achieved by instruments that use a wire with a beaded end, as that disclosed in one embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,347. The bead locks into the end of the crimp preventing the wire from sliding out of the crimp.
The option of pulling the cable by application of a tensioning tool to only one of the cable ends and to an abutment face of the crimp marked improvement respect to pulling from both cable ends when pretending to work on a restricted area.
The effectiveness of the surgical cable and crimp assemblies has proven itself, but an improved surgical crimp is needed. The heretofore instruments fail to provide an adequate technique and lengthen the overall procedure significantly. Thus there exists the need for an improved surgical crimp: compact, strong and easy to assemble in a confined area that allows the insertion of the surgical cable to loop the bone isolated from the crimp member, and to connect one of the cable ends to the crimp after the cable is looped around the bone
For the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, a new cable and crimp assembly is needed which takes into consideration the fact that the insertion of a surgical cable to loop the bone isolated from the crimp member must be allowed first, and only after the cable is looped around the bone, allows to connect one of the cable ends to the crimp member.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple and effective tool and method for securing surgical cable around bone without requiring a large incision for the tool to be assembled.
Another object of the invention herein is to provide an instrument and method wherein the exposure or stripping of the musculature away from the bone is minimized.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cable and crimp assembly which is compact, which is easy to assemble, which securely fastens the cable around the bone while maintaining the desired level of tension in the cable, and which has the highest possible resistance to tensile forces.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cable and crimp assembly that enables the cable to be inserted isolated from the crimp member, and the crimp member to be attached to the surgical cable only after the cable is looped around the bone.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises two members: a flexible cable and a crimp member. The surgical cable has an enlargement (a bead) affixed to its first end. The crimp member has a first hole and a second hole. The first hole is slotted and has a proximal and a distal part. The proximal part of the first hole has a cavity sized to accept the beaded end of cable. The distal part of the first hole is sized to allow the flexible cable to pass through, while the larger beaded first end of the cable being stopped. The second hole is non-slotted and sized to accommodate the cable. There is an abutment face on the crimp member located near to the second hole.
The present invention by being an easy and straightforward procedure for the surgeon makes the crimp and cable technique simple and fast overcoming one of the most important subject of matter of actual surgery, time shortening.
By fulfilling the recently mentioned objects, the present invention is extremely helpful to the medical care area.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Preferred features of the present invention are disclosed in the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, and wherein:
Hereinafter, a method for securing surgical cable around a bone according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to
The different sizes of the two arms of the slotted hole 6 are clearly seen in
The surgical procedure is described hereinto with reference to
Surgical technique starts with the insertion of the flexible cable 1, isolated from the crimp member 4, around the bone to be cerclaged 16, as shown in
After the flexible cable 1 is looped around the bone to be cerclaged 16, the first beaded end 2 of the flexible cable 1, is inserted into the cavity 8 of the crimp member 4 as shown in
Another embodiment of the present invention is shown with reference to
The crimp member 9 is shown in
The surgical procedure is described hereinto with reference to
Surgical technique starts with the insertion of the flexible cable 1 isolated from the crimp member 9 around the bone to be cerclaged 16, as shown in
After the flexible cable 1 is looped around the bone to be cerclaged 16, the first beaded end 2 of the flexible cable 1, is inserted into the cavity 14 of the crimp 9 as shown in
While I have illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that those skilled in the art will thereby be enabled to devise variations and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.
