Integrated surgical reduction clamp and drill guide
First Claim
1. An integrated surgical reduction clamp and drill guide for simultaneously supporting adjacent fragments of a fractured bone together and aligning the placement of a fractured bone fixation structure, comprising:
- a reference leg having a tip;
a guide leg having a guide means to guide the orientation of a fractured bone fixation structure along an alignment axis to a desired location passing through the fragments of the bone on opposite sides of the fracture and through the fracture, wherein said guide means includes a hollow cylinder attached to an end of said guide leg, said hollow cylinder having a central axis collinear with said alignment axis and having an inner cylindrical surface with a diameter not less than a diameter of the bone fixation structure, such that said bone fixation structure can pass through said hollow cylinder;
a pivot interposed between said reference leg and said guide leg, said pivot including means to resist translation between said reference leg and said guide leg and means to allow rotation between said reference leg and said guide leg;
said reference leg having a length from said pivot to said tip which is shorter than a length of said guide leg from said pivot to said guide means, such that the guide means and said tip of said reference leg are not fully opposing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A non-opposed surgical reduction clamp 10 is provided which has a drill guide 40 integrally formed with a guide leg 20 of the reduction clamp 10. The reduction clamp 10 also includes a reference leg 50 pivotably connected to the guide leg 20 through a pivot 70. The reference leg 50 includes a sharpened tip 57 at a tip thereof which can penetrate into a surface of a bone somewhat to prevent slippage of the reference leg 50. The drill guide 40 has an inner cylindrical surface 44 to provide an alignment axis Z for location of bone fixation structures, such as K-wire, pins or screws for reattachment and fixation of fractured bone fragments. Alignment axis Z of the drill guide 40 is in a common plane with the sharpened tip 57 of the reference leg 50, but extends beyond the sharpened tip 57 of the reference leg 50. Ends of the reference leg 50 and guide leg 20 opposite the sharpened tip 57 and drill guide 40 are provided with handle loops 30, 60 and clamp tabs 32, 62 to allow the reduction clamp 10 to be easily manipulated by a surgeon and clamped into position. The reduction clamp 10 is particularly configured to provide for reattachment of a lower tip H of a tibia T and to reattach a lower end E of a fibula F within the ankle A of a human patient. Precise orientation of the bone fixation structures such as wire K is provided without requiring a fully opposed reduction clamp.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An integrated surgical reduction clamp and drill guide for simultaneously supporting adjacent fragments of a fractured bone together and aligning the placement of a fractured bone fixation structure, comprising:
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a reference leg having a tip; a guide leg having a guide means to guide the orientation of a fractured bone fixation structure along an alignment axis to a desired location passing through the fragments of the bone on opposite sides of the fracture and through the fracture, wherein said guide means includes a hollow cylinder attached to an end of said guide leg, said hollow cylinder having a central axis collinear with said alignment axis and having an inner cylindrical surface with a diameter not less than a diameter of the bone fixation structure, such that said bone fixation structure can pass through said hollow cylinder; a pivot interposed between said reference leg and said guide leg, said pivot including means to resist translation between said reference leg and said guide leg and means to allow rotation between said reference leg and said guide leg; said reference leg having a length from said pivot to said tip which is shorter than a length of said guide leg from said pivot to said guide means, such that the guide means and said tip of said reference leg are not fully opposing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A non-opposing surgical reduction clamp and drill guide for supporting fractured bone fragments during orthopedic bone repair surgery, comprising:
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a reference leg having a tip; a guide leg having a means to linearly guide the orientation of a drill-driven fractured bone fixation device to a desired location oriented along an alignment axis of said guide means, wherein said guide means includes a hollow cylinder fixed to an end of said guide leg, said hollow cylinder having a bore extending from an inlet end to an outlet end, said outlet end oriented closer to said tip of said reference leg than said inlet end; a means to couple said reference leg and said guide leg together in a manner allowing a pivoting movement of the guide leg and reference leg relative to each other about a pivot point; said alignment axis oriented in a plane including said tip of said reference leg, but diverging from the location of said tip such that a linear distance from said pivot point to said alignment axis is greater than a linear distance from said pivot point to said tip of said reference leg. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for repairing a bone fracture where the fracture is non-parallel with many adjacent surfaces of the bone, such that an opposing reduction clamp cannot be used to hold fragments of the bone adjacent the fracture together, including the steps of:
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identifying first and second fragments of a bone which have been fractured apart and are to be rejoined together, at least one of the fragments not having a nearby surface parallel to the fracture against which an opposing reduction clamp can be used to close the fragments into contact with each other; providing a non-opposing surgical reduction clamp and drill guide including; a reference leg having a tip; a guide leg having a guide means to guide the orientation of a fixation device along an alignment axis to a desired location passing through fragments of the bone on opposite sides of a fracture and through the fracture; a pivot interposed between the reference leg and the guide leg, the pivot including means to resist translation between the reference leg and the guide leg and means to allow rotation between the reference leg and the guide leg; the reference leg having a length from the pivot to the tip which is shorter than a length needed to extend the tip to a region intersecting the alignment axis, such that the guide means and the tip of the reference leg are not fully opposing; placing the tip of the reference leg against a surface of the first bone fragment with the tip penetrating the surface; positioning the guide means against a surface of the second bone fragment; rotating the reference leg and guide leg about the pivot until the first bone fragment and the second bone fragment are adjacent each other; orienting the bone reattachment structure adjacent the guide means; and inserting the bone fixation device through the second bone fragment, across the fracture and into the first bone fragment while aligned by the guide means. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification