Instruments and devices for minimally-invasive spine surgery

Summary

Surgeons and engineers share the aim of reducing the trauma associated with the approach to the spine. We describe a selection of instruments and devices developed for minimally-invasive spinal surgery and highlight some of the difficulties and opportunities experienced during the development process. The degree to which the spinal operation can be made minimally invasive is limited by technical, as well as medical restraints. The surgeon cannot be expected to operate down a narrow tube through which the surgical instruments cannot be adequately seen or manoeuvred. The designer of the instruments and devices must consider these constraints, as well as the limits characterised by the mechanical properties of the materials being used. Additionally, new technologies or tools could be employed which change the designer's way of thinking, thus enabling a new design process to be started. The narrow tube could therefore be guided using an imaging technique, an endoscope, or computer-assisted navigation. These factors must all be considered, so as to avoid developing instrumentation which is either not truly minimally invasive or, on the other hand minimally effective.

Key Words:

• magnetic resonance imaging
• endoscopic surgery
• computer-assisted surgery
• interbody
• fusion
• implant