Absorbable Transfer Capsule for Ectopic Pregnancy Reimplantation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for managing ectopic pregnancies are largely destructive, leading to tragedy for both infants and families, as they lack a nondestructive means to transfer a baby from an ectopic site to the uterine cavity, resulting in high mortality rates for both the baby and mother.
Innovation Solution
A nondestructive approach involving a fluidic incubator, absorbable transfer capsules, fluidic ventilators, and chorionic spacers to support the baby's transfer and reimplantation, ensuring thermoregulation, fluidic ventilation, and protection from maternal inflammatory responses, allowing for transcervical reimplantation in a posterior fundal position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If destructive removal methods are used for ectopic pregnancy management, then the mother's safety is ensured, but the baby dies
Solution Approach 1:
The baby is extracted from the ectopic pregnancy site and placed in an incubator for external support, separating the baby from the harmful ectopic environment while maintaining life support independently
Solution Approach 2:
An incubator serves as an intermediary device between the ectopic site and the uterine cavity, providing necessary life support functions (thermoregulation, fluidic ventilation) during the transition period
2Reliability
If the baby is transferred from ectopic site to uterine cavity, then the baby can survive, but the transfer process is highly complex and risky
Solution Approach 1:
The baby is prepared in advance by placing it in an incubator with life support systems before transfer, ensuring thermoregulation and fluidic ventilation are established prior to the complex transfer procedure
Solution Approach 2:
Absorbable transfer capsules serve as temporary intermediaries that protect the baby during transfer through the cervix, dissolving after implantation to facilitate the complex reimplantation process
3Use of energy by moving object
If the baby is incubated outside the mother's body, then life support can be maintained, but the baby is vulnerable to environmental hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The incubator provides a controlled environment with flexible boundaries that maintain necessary conditions (temperature, fluid composition) while protecting the baby from external environmental hazards during external incubation
Solution Approach 2:
Absorbable transfer capsules act as protective intermediaries that shield the baby from maternal inflammatory responses and environmental hazards during the critical transfer and reimplantation period
4Duration of action of moving object
If reimplantation is attempted in the uterine cavity, then the baby can continue development, but maternal inflammatory responses may occur
Solution Approach 1:
Absorbable transfer capsules serve as temporary protective barriers during reimplantation, shielding the baby from direct exposure to maternal inflammatory responses while allowing continued development in the uterine cavity
Solution Approach 2:
The incubator provides beforehand cushioning by maintaining optimal life support conditions prior to reimplantation, reducing stress on the baby during the inflammatory response period
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
This method enables the safe transfer and reimplantation of babies from ectopic sites to the uterine cavity, reducing mortality and ensuring the baby's health by providing necessary life support and protection during the process, thereby offering a viable option for ectopic pregnancy management.
Implementation Method 1
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/649,848, filed Oct. 11, 2012, for a method of thermoregulation within an incubator for babies before implantation
Implementation Method 2
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/079,955, filed Feb. 19, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,175, for a method of monitoring the body temperature of human embryos and hatchlings
Implementation Method 3
enclosing the baby in an absorbable transfer capsule
Implementation Method 4
transcervical reimplantation in a posterior fundal position
Data Source
AI summary
In a nondestructive means of ectopic pregnancy management, a baby is delivered with the gestational sac intact and then submerged in an incubator containing ventilating fluid; the baby is placed in an absorbable transfer capsule and transcervically transferred to the uterine cavity; the capsule dissolves after a period of time to leave the gestational sac abutted to the endometrium so the baby can reattach. To maintain the baby's life support, the means includes fluidic ventilators and ventilation catheters to perfuse the gestational sac with ventilating fluid during such times as delivery, incubation, transfer, and reimplantation. Advantageously, the transfer capsule protects the baby during transfer and serves as a convenient vehicle for placing devices such as the ventilation catheter in the uterus along with the baby. An exemplary transfer capsule is flexible like a soft contact lens; hydrates with a solution containing nutrients and factors to promote the biomechanical interactions of implantation; and, being based on a hyaluronan hydrogel, dissolves in the uterine cavity to provide the baby and mother with hyaluronan which is known to benefit implantation. Hard shell absorbable transfer capsules are also provided for when structural support is needed.