Development of a Single Bone Screw that Prevents Rotation
Problem statement
To fix severe fractures surgeons perform an open reduction and internal fixation surgery. During which, they insert a bone screw to stabilize the bone fragment. While being able to provide compression, bone screws do not stop bone fragments from rotating relative to the bone. This can prevent the bone from healing correctly. To prevent this surgeon making their own derotation pins by cutting and bending guide wires placed through the bone fragment and into the bone. However, this method drastically increases the time of the surgery, increasing the health risk to the patient, costly from wasting precious time in the Operation Room making the derotation pins and inconvenient from having low visibility at the location of the fracture. The team will design an off-the-shelf part and corresponding technique that can be used to prevent rotation that would require little to no adaptation during surgery. Ultimately our goal is to reduce the time, cost, and difficulty of open reduction and internal fixation surgeries.
Team members
Peter Noonan – leader
Carson Evenstad – communicator
Britney Lane – accountant
– admin
Client
Ken Noonan, Orthopedics at UW School of Medicine and Public Health