POWEREASE™ Surgical Instrument System for Medtronic

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Message POWEREASE™ Surgical Instrument System Medtronic’s advanced medical technologies help people to live better, longer lives. A pioneer in minimally invasive spinal surgery techniques, the company partnered with IDEO to design, engineer, and build a next-generation surgical instrument system that revolutionizes the techniques used to perform spinal surgeries. The result is a system of powered medical tools created specifically to meet the needs of surgeons during reconstructive procedures. The system is used for drilling, tapping, driving and assembling specialized implants during surgery. These tools are designed to improve the comfort, control, and speed of surgeons and their staff. Reconstructive spinal surgeries can be life-changing operations for patients with severe spinal deformity, degeneration, or traumatic injury. However, even minimally invasive spinal procedures can require hours under anesthesia for patients and be physically demanding for surgeons and their staff. Some surgical tasks require delicate, repetitive movements such as drilling, tapping, and driving specialized implants into bone. Others require great strength to cut metal rods or break ‘set’ screws. Over time, the repetitive physical strain can limit the ability of highly skilled orthopedic surgeons to perform these surgeries. To design and engineer more advanced surgical tools that lessen physical strain and enhance surgeon control, the IDEO and Medtronic team began by observing orthopedic surgeons in the operating room. The team developed a key framework that describes the interplay between the required strength, skill, and time throughout various stages of surgery, and identified areas of focus that would have the greatest impact. By integrating cutting-edge industrial design, human-centered research findings, and boundary-pushing engineering work, the IDEO and Medtronic team was able to solve some highly technical challenges, including: Augmenting the control of a surgeon tapping and driving a screw by enabling extremely low speed operation and isolating the desired motion to reduce unintended ‘wobble,’ which is defined as maximum radial movement of the instrument from the center axis Easing the transition by providing the ability to bypass the instrument and manually ratchet the screws, which is especially important to surgeons during the last few turns in order to ‘feel’ the torque at which screws are inserted Enabling the use of cannulated implants (guided by thin wires) by locating the motor in the handle and creating a hollow, insulated tube that runs through the device Cutting metal rods safely with a small handheld device that requires minimal strength through a series of torque multipliers Efficiently breaking off set screws while imparting minimal torque on the surgical construct in the patient Seamlessly integrating nerve monitoring and image navigation capabilities into the instruments Building upon work with IDEO and Medtronic Spine, the final product concept was refined and launched by Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies division, a leader in the production of powered surgical tools. Medtronic’s initial tests show that when compared to manual instruments, the new powered instrument system could allow surgeons to spend 51 percent less time tapping the pedicle, 55 percent less time placing screws, and see 38 percent less “wobble” during spinal surgeries. “We’re pleased to couple advanced power technology with our proprietary neuromonitoring and surgical navigation systems, which enable a more informed procedure,” says Doug King, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Spinal. The Medtronic Spinal POWEREASE™ Surgical Instrument System launched in April 2012 after receiving FDA clearance. http://www.ideo.com/work/powerease-surgical-instrument-system

Medtronic’s advanced medical technologies help people to live better, longer lives. A pioneer in minimally invasive spinal surgery techniques, the company partnered with IDEO to design, engineer, and build a next-generation surgical instrument system that revolutionizes the techniques used to perform spinal surgeries. The result is a system of powered medical tools created specifically to meet the needs of surgeons during reconstructive procedures. The system is used for drilling, tapping, driving and assembling specialized implants during surgery. These tools are designed to improve the comfort, control, and speed of surgeons and their staff.

Reconstructive spinal surgeries can be life-changing operations for patients with severe spinal deformity, degeneration, or traumatic injury. However, even minimally invasive spinal procedures can require hours under anesthesia for patients and be physically demanding for surgeons and their staff. Some surgical tasks require delicate, repetitive movements such as drilling, tapping, and driving specialized implants into bone. Others require great strength to cut metal rods or break ‘set’ screws. Over time, the repetitive physical strain can limit the ability of highly skilled orthopedic surgeons to perform these surgeries.

To design and engineer more advanced surgical tools that lessen physical strain and enhance surgeon control, the IDEO and Medtronic team began by observing orthopedic surgeons in the operating room. The team developed a key framework that describes the interplay between the required strength, skill, and time throughout various stages of surgery, and identified areas of focus that would have the greatest impact.

By integrating cutting-edge industrial design, human-centered research findings, and boundary-pushing engineering work, the IDEO and Medtronic team was able to solve some highly technical challenges, including:

Augmenting the control of a surgeon tapping and driving a screw by enabling extremely low speed operation and isolating the desired motion to reduce unintended ‘wobble,’ which is defined as maximum radial movement of the instrument from the center axis
Easing the transition by providing the ability to bypass the instrument and manually ratchet the screws, which is especially important to surgeons during the last few turns in order to ‘feel’ the torque at which screws are inserted
Enabling the use of cannulated implants (guided by thin wires) by locating the motor in the handle and creating a hollow, insulated tube that runs through the device
Cutting metal rods safely with a small handheld device that requires minimal strength through a series of torque multipliers
Efficiently breaking off set screws while imparting minimal torque on the surgical construct in the patient
Seamlessly integrating nerve monitoring and image navigation capabilities into the instruments

Building upon work with IDEO and Medtronic Spine, the final product concept was refined and launched by Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies division, a leader in the production of powered surgical tools. Medtronic’s initial tests show that when compared to manual instruments, the new powered instrument system could allow surgeons to spend 51 percent less time tapping the pedicle, 55 percent less time placing screws, and see 38 percent less “wobble” during spinal surgeries. “We’re pleased to couple advanced power technology with our proprietary neuromonitoring and surgical navigation systems, which enable a more informed procedure,” says Doug King, Senior Vice President and President of Medtronic Spinal.

The Medtronic Spinal POWEREASE™ Surgical Instrument System launched in April 2012 after receiving FDA clearance.