Ablation Probe Vacuum Coupling for Lung Lesion Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical instruments face inefficiencies in delivering energy and therapeutic substances due to air surrounding the instrument, leading to poor energy transfer and inaccurate imaging, especially in treating lung lesions with varying tissue densities and air-filled cavities.
Innovation Solution
A system with an extended working channel and vacuum/liquid source to create a consistent tissue-to-tool interface by suctioning air or injecting fluid, securing the instrument with balloons, and using apposition to enhance energy delivery and imaging clarity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a medical instrument is inserted into a lesion surrounded by air, then the instrument can access the target area, but energy delivery efficiency decreases and imaging accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful air from the treatment zone by applying negative pressure through a suction catheter. This removes the air barrier between the medical instrument and the tissue, allowing efficient energy transfer while maintaining instrument access to the target lesion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a fluid medium (saline or other coupling fluid) as an intermediary between the medical instrument and the tissue. This fluid displaces the air and creates a consistent interface that enables effective energy delivery and imaging, resolving the contradiction between access and energy transfer.
2Ease of operation
If a medical instrument is inserted into a lesion surrounded by air, then the instrument can access the target area, but ultrasound imaging accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The suction catheter removes air from the imaging zone, eliminating the acoustic interface problem that causes poor ultrasound images. This allows clear visualization of the lesion and surrounding tissue while maintaining instrument access.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling fluid serves as an acoustic intermediary that allows ultrasound waves to pass efficiently between the transducer and the tissue. This fluid medium replaces the air that was causing poor image quality, enabling accurate imaging during the procedure.
3Ease of operation
If tissue is divided to insert an instrument, then the instrument can reach the target, but air-gaps are created between tissue and instrument
Solution Approach 1:
The negative pressure applied through the suction catheter extracts air from the spaces created by tissue division. This eliminates the air-gaps that form during instrument insertion, creating direct tissue-to-instrument contact while maintaining the ability to insert the instrument through the tissue.
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
Improves energy delivery efficiency and ultrasound imaging accuracy by minimizing air interference, ensuring precise treatment and visualization of lung lesions.
Implementation Method 1
The opening may be connected to a vacuum source, such as a syringe. The vacuum source may generate a threshold amount of suction to remove air from at least a portion of a luminal network in which the extended working channel is inserted.
Implementation Method 2
The opening may be connected to a liquid source, which provides for example saline. The system may include a valve in fluid communication with the liquid source and the opening such as a duckbill valve. A consistent zone may be formed around the medical instrument by injecting fluid from the fluid source through the opening in the extended working channel and into at least a portion of a luminal network in which the extended working channel is inserted.
Implementation Method 3
The system may further include one or more balloons operably associated with the extended working channel to secure the extended working channel within the luminal network and isolate at least a portion of the luminal network.
Implementation Method 4
the ablation probe includes a microwave ablation antenna
Implementation Method 5
medical instruments that deliver energy, such as microwave energy, or other forms of therapies
Data Source
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AI summary
A surgical instrument for percutaneously accessing and treating a target tissue, the instrument comprising a handle coupled with an ablation probe and configured to receive a catheter, the catheter having a proximal end and a distal end and defining a lumen for surrounding the ablation probe, the proximal end of the catheter having a port and a tube in fluid communication with the lumen of the catheter for coupling to a vacuum source or a liquid source, whereby coupling to the vacuum source enables air to be suctioned through the tube from the distal end to the proximal end of the lumen around the ablation probe to place the probe in apposition with target tissue, and whereby coupling to the liquid source supplies fluid from the proximal end to the distal end of the lumen around the ablation probe onto at least a portion of the target tissue.