Patent Application
20140031621
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to surgical cutting apparatuses and more particularly to a cutting apparatus having an image capture arrangement for treating carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. Description of Related Art
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is an entrapment median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, numbness, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression of the median nerve traveling through the carpal tunnel. The main symptom of CTS is intermittent numbness of the thumb, index, long and radial half of the ring finger. The numbness often occurs at night, with the hypothesis that the wrists are held flexed during sleep. It is suggested that sleep positioning, such as sleeping on one's side, may be an associated factor. It can be relieved by wearing a wrist splint that prevents flexion. Pain in CTS is primarily numbness.
The only scientifically established disease modifying treatment is surgery to cut the transverse carpal ligament. Taiwan Utility Model Number M355694 discloses a knife for treating carpal tunnel syndrome as shown in
However, a drawback has been found in the conventional knife for treating carpal tunnel syndrome. In detail, no light source, digital camera, and video screen are provided for the surgery. Thus, a precise positioning of the knife on the surgical site completely depends upon the experience and skill of the surgeon. This is not reliable. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a cutting apparatus for treating carpal tunnel syndrome comprising a hollow handle comprising an interior space, a bent portion at a forward end of the handle, a switch mounted on an outer surface of the handle, and a video screen pivotably secured to the outer surface of the handle; a blade mount formed of transparent material and having a rear end mounted with the bent portion of the handle, the blade mount comprising an upper guide and a lower guide; a metal blade disposed between the upper guide and the lower guide and being perpendicular to each of the upper guide and the lower guide; and an image capture assembly comprising a light source disposed in the interior space proximate the bent portion, a digital camera disposed proximate the blade, and a microprocessor disposed in the interior space; wherein the microprocessor is electrically connected to the video screen, the light source, and the digital camera respectively; wherein the digital camera takes video of a target and records same as images; wherein the microprocessor processes the images sent from the digital camera into image signals; and wherein the video screen receives the image signals from the microprocessor and displays same as images.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
The handle 10 is an elongated, hollow cylinder and comprises an interior space 101, a bent portion 11 at a forward end for mounting with the blade mount 20, a releasable cap 12 on a rear end, a battery 121 provided in the space 101 proximate the cap 12, a plurality of parallel ribs (as a slip resistant member) 13 formed around an outer surface of the handle 10 proximate the cap 12, a switch 14 formed on the outer surface of the handle 10 proximate the ribs 13 and electrically connected to the battery 121, and a video screen 15 having a pivot 151 pivotably secured to the outer surface of the handle 10 and spaced from the switch 14. Thus, the video screen 15 can be disposed in either an inoperative position (see
The blade mount 20 is made of transparent material with light guiding capability. The blade mount 20 has a rear end mounted with the bent portion 11 of the handle 10. In a first preferred embodiment of the invention (see
A curved blade 22 is made of metal and provided between the upper guide 21 and the lower guide 23. Further, the blade 22 is perpendicular to each of the upper guide 21 and the lower guide 23.
In a second preferred embodiment of the invention (see
The image capture assembly 30 comprises a light source 31 provided in the space 101 proximate the bent portion 11, a digital camera 32 proximate the blade 22, and a microprocessor 33 provided in the space 101 proximate the switch 14, the microprocessor 33 electrically connected to the switch 14, the microprocessor 33 further electrically connected to the video screen 15, the light source 31 and the digital camera 32 respectively. The light source 31 is a light-emitting diode (LED) and is adapted to emit light toward the forward end of the blade mount 20. The digital camera 32, as commanded by the microprocessor 33, is capable of taking video of a target (as detailed later) by recording images of the target on its electronic image sensor. Further, the recorded images in the image sensor are processed by the microprocessor 33 and sent to the video screen 15 for display as detailed later.
The operation of the cutting apparatus of the invention for treating CTS (i.e., releasing the transverse carpal ligament) in a surgery will be described by referring to
It is envisaged by the invention that the surgeon can clearly see the target (i.e., surgical site) by watching the video screen 15 during the surgery. Thus, the surgeon can correctly follow the progress of the surgery on the video screen 15 to obtain a clear view of the target. Therefore, the surgeon can precisely manipulate the blade mount 20 by pushing both the upper guide 21 and the lower guide 23 toward the target and bypassing the median nerve 41. Finally, the surgeon can push the blade 22 to cut the transverse carpal ligament 42 and successfully release same.
While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modifications within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
