Trevor Chan — Surgical Retractor

Overview

A family of novel orthopedic surgical instruments for foot, ankle, and cervical spine surgery, developed in collaboration with surgeons at Yale New Haven Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania. Initial funding for this project was provided through the CT Innovations Bioscience Pipeline Fund. One patent has been issued (No. 11,974,788) with additional patents pending.

Problem

Many orthopedic procedures require bone segments to be precisely distracted (pulled apart) or compressed to allow cartilage removal, implant placement, or fusion. Instruments commonly found in operating rooms cannot reliably maintain collinear alignment between bone faces during these maneuvers. Misalignment is a leading cause of surgical complications including nonunion, malunion, implant subsidence, and adjacent segment disease. In the US, up to one in five patients undergoing foot or cervical spine fusion surgeries experience complications, with a significant fraction requiring costly revision procedures.

Solution

An adjustable-angle orthopedic distractor and compressor that provides precise, collinear control over bone alignment throughout the surgical procedure. The mechanism uses an articulating linkage with independently adjustable arms, allowing the surgeon to accommodate variable patient anatomy while maintaining uniform force distribution across the bone faces. This prevents gapping and endplate injury that can lead to hardware failure and fusion complications.

Device Families

Three instrument variants have been developed. The foot and ankle distractor-compressor targets traumatic fracture repair and arthrodesis, providing collinear distraction and compression with multi-axis angle adjustment. The small bone variant addresses fine-grained manipulation in hand and foot surgeries. The cervical spine distractor is designed for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and related procedures, with independently adjustable arms for each vertebral level to accommodate the natural curvature of the cervical spine.