Adjustable Drainage Catheter With Suture-Sparing Shearing Hub
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drainage catheters often protrude from the body due to improper sizing, causing discomfort, mobility issues, and increased infection risk, and cannot be adjusted without severing the locking stay suture.
Innovation Solution
A length-adjustable catheter with a separate hub and longitudinal shearing device allows for cutting the catheter without severing the internal locking stay suture, featuring a flexible material and a soft silicone cover to enhance patient comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If a longer catheter is used to accommodate all patient sizes, then the catheter can reach the required insertion depth for all patients, but the catheter protrudes from the patient's body causing discomfort and mobility issues
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system enables dynamic length adjustment through a cutting mechanism that allows the catheter to be trimmed to the precise length needed for each patient, transforming the static fixed-length catheter into an adaptable configuration that eliminates protrusion while maintaining adequate insertion depth
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the length parameter of the catheter from a fixed manufacturing specification to a variable parameter that can be adjusted post-manufacturing through the cutting mechanism, allowing optimization for individual patient anatomy without protrusion
2Length of moving object
If the catheter is cut to the exact required length, then patient comfort is improved, but the locking stay suture is severed compromising catheter security
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting mechanism separates the catheter body from the locking stay suture by making the cut at a precise location that spares the suture, dividing the catheter structure into segments that can be independently managed - the trimmed catheter body and the intact retained suture
Solution Approach 2:
The hub assembly acts as an intermediary structure that provides a protected pathway for the locking stay suture, allowing the catheter body to be cut while the suture passes through or is anchored in the hub, thus mediating between the need for length reduction and suture integrity
3Device complexity
If a fixed hub is used at the catheter end, then the catheter structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the hub presses into the patient's skin causing pain and ulcers
Solution Approach 1:
The hub is covered with a soft flexible material such as silicone that conforms to the patient's skin surface, replacing the rigid fixed hub surface with a compliant interface that distributes pressure and prevents skin breakdown while maintaining the structural integrity of the underlying hub
4Ease of manufacture
If a longer catheter with fixed hub is used, then the catheter can be manufactured with standard lengths, but the tubing and hub become stuck on furniture or clothing causing dislodgement and infection risk
Solution Approach 1:
The ability to adjust catheter length dynamically through cutting eliminates the protrusion problem that causes snagging, allowing the catheter to be precisely fitted to each patient's body dimensions so that the hub sits flush against the skin without excess tubing vulnerable to external obstacles
Data Source
AI summary
A drainage catheter system comprising a catheter having an elongate body \configured for insertion into an organ or cavity of a patient and a hub configured for coupling with a longitudinal shearing device and the first end of the catheter and movable over the elongate body of the catheter. A locking stay suture extends through the elongate body of the catheter. The length of the elongate body of the catheter can be adjusted by sliding the hub coupled to the longitudinal shearing device along the longitudinal axis of the catheter, and then creating a longitudinal cut in the catheter through which the proximal end of the locking stay suture can be removed and secured, thereby enabling the excess catheter tubing to be removed by cutting and allowing the base to rest flush against the patient's body.