Development and verification of a novel bone collector with automatic size separating function for orthopedics surgery

Background: Autologous bone dust can be filled in bone defects to promote effective bone healing but typically it is lost when using suction during surgery. The aim of this study was to develop a novel bone collector that can be used to collect bone chips/dust of varying sizes without changing current surgical procedures. Research design and methods: This collector was designed to connect to a surgical continuous suction system and comprised a plate filter with a 3 mm hole and featured a taper filter with a mesh size of 0.27 mm for the separation and collection of both coarse and fine bone chips/dust. The bone collector was manufactured using nylon 3D printing and plastic injection with biocompatible materials. Results: The bone collector functional test revealed high bone chip collection efficiency (93%) with automatic size separation function. Low (3.42%) filtration errors showed that most of the water can be drained smoothly from the bone collector. In clinical usability testing, bone collectors can provide functions demonstrated in in vivo spinal fusion and femoral fracture surgeries with different bone grafting size requirements. Conclusions: The novel bone collector has been validated as a viable and effective surgical device, offering surgeons an additional option to enhance patient outcomes.