Hand-held instrument holder for surgical use

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/391,464, entitled instrument Holder for a Surgical instrument, filed on Mar. 18, 2003 and now U.S. Pat. No. 7,056,317, which is in turn continuation of Ser. No. 09/902,369 filed on Jul. 9, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,739 which in turn is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/602,341 filed Jun. 24, 2000 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,647 issued Jul. 24, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto.

[0002] This invention relates to surgical instrument holders, and more particularly, to hand-held holders of rotary surgical cutting tools.

[0003] Surgical instruments and their respective holders have to be kept clean and sterile before any use in a hospital environment in order to minimize risk of transfer of disease or infection from patient to patient following the emergence of certain “prions” that are not killed by normal hospital sterilization and thus need to be physically removed through washing and rinsing. A surgical instrument, for example for preparing for the fitting of a hip prosthesis, works in a medium which causes considerable soiling of the instrument and of the instrument holder. Despite the importance of doing so, the thorough cleaning of these devices is difficult. Surgical instrument holders of the prior art are designed such that washing and rinsing are generally not an effective way of cleaning the instrument. This is due to the small spaces left between component parts which allow only minimal access by cleaning agents.

[0004] What is needed therefore is a surgical instrument holder which is quickly and simply disassembled for cleaning and sterilization.

[0005] The surgical instrument holder of the invention has a shank having first driveable end and second coupling end, a coupling device mounted on the coupling end, and a locking mechanism. The coupling end has an interface thereon for receiving an instrument. The locking mechanism in made up of an annular locking component, a spring, a ring which slides on the shank, and a locking device. The annular locking component is mounted so as to slide along the shank. The locking device cooperates with the locking component so as to lock the instrument onto the interface. The spring biases the locking component in a locking direction and bears on the ring. The ring is disengageably lockable to the shank via a connection device.

[0006] The object of the invention is to enable quick disassembly for cleaning and component sterilization.

[0007] In a feature of the invention, the holder is adapted to hold a large AO fitting.

[0008] In another feature of the invention, the holder is adapted to hold a small AO fitting.

[0017] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, in which a first embodiment of the surgical instrument holder 10 of the invention is shown, the holder connects to a surgical instrument 12 to enable controlled manipulation of that instrument. The holder 10 has a shank 14 having a coupling end 16, a T-bar handle 20 attached to an opposite end 22 of the shank, a coupling device 24, and a locking mechanism 26. The coupling end 16 has an internal recess 30 therein, co-axial with the central axis of the shank, for receiving the instrument 12. The locking mechanism 26 is made up of an annular locking sleeve 32, a helical compression spring 34, a ring 36 which slides on the shank 14, and ball-detents 40. Preferably, to ensure that the instrument 12 is retained in an axially aligned relationship with the holder 10, three, circumferentially spaced apart ball-detents 40 arc disposed in the coupling end 16 of the shank 14. It should be noted that the balls 44 are held in their respective detents via any known means of doing so, such as by deforming of an edge of the detent so as to prevent the ball from being able to drop out or by use of a ball-detent pre-assembly that threads in a threaded hole.

[0018] The annular locking sleeve 32 mounts so as to slide along tile shank 14. The ball-detent 40 is disposed in the coupling end 16 of the shank 14 and received into an annular recess 42 in the instrument. The locking sleeve 32 slides over the ball-detent 40 to bias balls 44 into the recess 42 in order to minimize play in the connection. The spring 34 biases the locking sleeve 32 in a locking direction and bears on the ring 36. The ring 36 is disengageably lockable to the coupling end 16 of the shank 14 via a catch such as a bayonet mechanism 46. The bayonet mechanism 46 includes a bayonet slot 50 and a locking pin 52. The bayonet slot 50 is cut in the coupling end 16 of the shank 14.

[0019] The ring 36 locks over the coupling end 16, and the shank 14 has a smaller diameter than the coupling end, so that when the ring is unlocked and slid back along the shank, cleaning access to all surfaces of the locking mechanism 26 is facilitated.

[0020] Optionally, the shank is hollow along its length so as to provide a channel facilitating chip removal.

[0021] Referring in particular to FIG. 2, a chamfered surface 54 is disposed within the recess 30 to align the instrument axially. The chamfered surface 54 is disposed on an annular piston 56. The piston 56 is free to slide within the recess, biased toward the instrument by an internal spring 60. A locking element 62 prevents the piston 56 from exiting the recess 30. The piston 56 contacts the instrument 12 as the instrument enters the recess 30 prior to and as the instrument is aligned with the ball-detent 40, so as to enable locking of the instrument in an axially aligned configuration.

[0022] The recess 30 includes a hexagonal female portion 64 for engaging a corresponding surface of the instrument. The ball-detents 40 are located in the coupling end 16 of the shank 14 adjacent the hexagonal female portion 64.

[0023] The holder 10 of the first embodiment is adapted to a large AO fitting 12.

[0024] Referring now to FIG. 3, the instrument holder 10 is shown in an unlocked, partially disassembled position, ready for cleaning. To unlock the holder 10, the ring 36 is urged against the bias of spring 34 so as to be lifted out of a bayonet seat 35, and then twisted so as to move the pin 52 out of the bayonet slot 50 in the coupling end 16 of the shank 14. The ring 36 may then be slid back along the shank 14, releasing the spring 34 and the sleeve 32, and thereby providing cleaning and sterilization access to the recesses that might otherwise not be accessible. The instrument 12 is shown in dashed lines, as it is not part of the invention 10. A knurled surface 33 is apparent on the sleeve 32. Such surface 33 improves the grip of the user on the sleeve 32 when the user pulls back on the sleeve to release the instrument 12.

[0025] Referring now to FIG. 4, in which is shown a second embodiment of the instrument holder 10′ of the invention, the holder has a shank 14′ having a coupling end 16′, a T-bar handle 20′ attached to an opposite end 22′ of the shank, a coupling device 24′, and a locking mechanism 26. The coupling end 16′ has an internal recess 30′ therein, co-axial with the central axis of the shank, for receiving an instrument 12′, which is a small AO fitting (shown most clearly in FIG. 7). The locking mechanism 26′ is made up of an annular locking sleeve 32′, a helical spring 34′, a ring 36′ which slides on the shank 14′, and a ball-detent 40′. The annular locking sleeve 32′ mounts so as to slide along the shank 14′. The ball-detent 40′ is disposed in the coupling end 16′ of the shank 14′ and received into an annular recess 42′ in the instrument 12′. The locking sleeve 32′ slides over the ball-detent 40′ to bias the ball 44′ into the recess 42′ in order to lock the instrument 12′ in place as well as to minimize play in the connection. The spring 34′ biases the locking sleeve 32′ in a locking direction and bears against the ring 36′. The ring 36′ is disengageably lockable to the coupling end 16′ of the shank 14′ via a bayonet mechanism 46′. The bayonet mechanism 46′ includes a bayonet slot 50′ (best shown in FIG. 5) and a locking pin 52′. The bayonet slot 50′ is cut in the coupling end 16′ of the shank 14′, and includes a seat 35′. Note that in this embodiment, the internal diameter of the ring 36′ is only just larger than the external diameter of the shank 14′ in its mid portion, and that a flat 53 provides clearance for the pin 52′, so that it is able to slide out of the bayonet slot 50′ and then along the shank.

[0026] Referring now to FIG. 6, showing the holder 10′ in a locked position, locking the instrument 12′, the coupling end 16′ includes a transverse slot 70 which penetrates into the recess 30′, axially offset therefrom so as to create an offset wall 72 which engages a corresponding flat surface 74 of an instrument 12′. At the end of the recess 30′, a D-shaped seat 76 interfaces with the instrument 12′ about its entire circumference is provided. Essentially, the seat 76 is a D-shaped blind hole shaped to closely interface with the circumference of the instrument 12′. It should be noted that this seat 76 is either cut with a carbon electrode in an EDM process or is broached in a subcomponent of the shank and then welded to a shank body to create the shank 14′. The ball-detent 40′ enters an annular groove 66′ in the instrument 12′ along an axis perpendicular to the flat surface 74 of the instrument. A locking sleeve 32′ slides over the ball detent 40′ to bias a ball 44′ into the recess 30′ in order to lock the instrument 12′ in place and to minimize play in the connection.

[0027] Referring now to FIG. 7, a side view of the holder 10′ is shown, in an unlocked position, ready for cleaning. Note that the slot 70 not only provides the wall which locks the instrument 12′ against rotation, but also provides better access for cleaning of the coupling end 16′ of the holder 10′.

[0028] In an advantage of the invention, the bayonet mechanism 46 or 46′ holding the ring 36′ and thus the spring 34′, in an operational position, enables quick disassembly for cleaning and component sterilization.

[0029] In another advantage of the invention, the large differences in diameter between the ring 36 and the shank 14 permits better access to otherwise inaccessible recesses for more thorough cleaning.

[0030] In another advantage of the invention, the holder is adapted to hold many different instrument interfaces.

[0031] In another advantage, the holder 10, 10′ of the invention minimizes play and maximizes alignment with the turning axis.

[0032] Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been shown and described a wide range of modification, change and substitution is contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances, some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features. Further, the small and large AO fittings 12 and 12′ are only examples of the types of instruments that the invention may be adapted to hold. In fact, there are many different varieties of fittings to which the invention is easily adaptable. For example, the invention may be adapted to hold a “ZIMMER-HALL” (“STRYKER”), a “ZIMMER”, “HARRIS”, “HUDSON”, “TRIPAN”, “JACOBS”, and “QUEUES”, to name a few. The elastic devices used of course can be selected from a large variety of equivalents to a helical, compression spring, including, for example, leaf springs, flat springs, multiple compression springs, just to name a few. Further, the ball-detent can be substituted with any sort of mechanical retention system, for example, a moving finger or a twisting cam shaft, etc. Still further, the connection mechanism can be substituted for a variety of connection mechanisms such as a threaded connection mechanism, a clasp, spring detents, or even magnetic retention devices. Accordingly it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention.