Ablation Catheter with Positioning Elements for Uniform Tissue Treatment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tissue ablation methods face challenges such as inconsistent and non-uniform ablation due to patient movement and organ geometry, leading to incomplete treatment and adverse side effects like bleeding and perforation, particularly in treating conditions like Barrett's esophagus and endometrial abnormalities.
Innovation Solution
A catheter-based device with positioning elements and steam delivery system that centers itself within the cervix or organ, using temperature sensors to control steam release through ports, ensuring uniform energy distribution and minimizing energy escape, thereby achieving consistent and controlled ablation without the need for expansion mechanisms or occlusive agents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional ablation methods are used, then tissue removal can be achieved, but the ablation is inconsistent and non-uniform due to patient movement and organ geometry
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter incorporates expandable positioning elements that can dynamically adjust to accommodate patient movement and varying organ geometry. The positioning elements can expand or contract to maintain optimal contact with the tissue surface, ensuring consistent ablation delivery despite physiological movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses temperature sensors to monitor and control the ablation parameters in real-time, adjusting energy delivery to maintain uniform ablation. The positioning elements can also change their physical state or configuration to adapt to different anatomical conditions, ensuring consistent treatment outcomes.
2Reliability
If higher energy is delivered to ensure complete tissue removal, then ablation effectiveness improves, but the risk of bleeding and perforation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter incorporates temperature sensors that provide real-time feedback on tissue temperature during ablation. This feedback mechanism allows the system to monitor tissue response and adjust energy delivery accordingly, preventing overheating that could lead to perforation or excessive bleeding while ensuring complete tissue removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The ablation energy is delivered through multiple ports distributed across the catheter surface, creating localized zones of energy delivery. This allows for controlled, gradual tissue removal with better heat distribution, reducing the risk of concentrated thermal damage that could cause perforation or bleeding.
3Manufacturing precision
If expansion mechanisms are used to ensure uniform contact, then ablation uniformity improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning elements are constructed from flexible materials that can conform to the tissue surface without requiring complex mechanical expansion mechanisms. The flexible structure naturally adapts to organ geometry and patient movement, maintaining uniform contact through material compliance rather than mechanical actuation.
4Manufacturing precision
If occlusive agents are used to contain energy, then ablation control improves, but the risk of adverse side effects increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses temperature sensors as intermediaries between the energy source and the tissue. These sensors monitor tissue response in real-time and provide feedback to adjust energy delivery, enabling precise control of energy distribution without requiring occlusive agents that could cause adverse effects.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device provides uniform and controlled tissue ablation, reducing the risk of complications like bleeding and perforation, and allows for effective treatment of complex anatomies like the esophagus and uterus, ensuring thorough tissue removal while protecting surrounding healthy tissue.
Implementation Method 1
a heating element, wherein activation of the heating element causes the coiled tubing to increase from a first temperature to a second temperature and wherein the increase causes a conversion of liquid within the coiled tubing to vapor
Implementation Method 2
the chamber is composed of an electrically non-conducting and thermally insulating material and an induction heating element made of a ferromagnetic material positioned within the chamber; and, an induction coil positioned around the chamber, the induction coil capable of receiving high frequency energy; wherein, when the high frequency energy is supplied to the induction coil, a magnetic field is created in the area surrounding the chamber and the magnetic field induces magnetization of the ferromagnetic material which undergoes a magnetic hysteresis, resulting in hysteresis loss and subsequent further heating of the chamber
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 2D
AI summary
Ablation catheters and systems include multiple inline chambers for containing and heating an ablative agent. The heating chamber includes one or more channels to increase the contact surface area of the ablative agent with the walls of the heating chamber to provide more efficient heating. Induction heating is used to heat a chamber and vaporize a fluid within by wrapping a coil about a ferromagnetic chamber and providing an alternating current to the coil. A magnetic field is created in the area surrounding the chamber which induces electric current flow in the chamber, heating the chamber and vaporizing the fluid inside. Positioning elements help maintain the device in the proper position with respect to the target tissue and also prevent the passage of ablative agent to normal tissues