Length-Adjustable Catheter with Telescoping Shaft for Vascular Blockages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current angioplasty balloon catheters have fixed shaft lengths, leading to complexities and complications when treating multiple vascular blockages, as they require multiple catheters of different lengths and involve cascading procedural steps, including vessel damage and sterility issues.
Innovation Solution
A length-adjustable catheter with a variable shaft that can be adjusted over a range of lengths during procedures, providing relative-position indications and mechanical locking, allowing for simplified treatment of multiple target sites within blood vessels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple fixed-length catheters are used to treat multiple blockages, then all blockages can be accessed, but device complexity and procedural complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter incorporates a telescoping shaft mechanism that allows the effective length to be dynamically adjusted during the procedure. The shaft can be extended to reach distant blockages or retracted for closer targets, eliminating the need for multiple fixed-length catheters while maintaining the ability to treat various blockage positions.
Solution Approach 2:
A single catheter design with variable length capability serves multiple functions that previously required separate catheters. The universal catheter can access different target distances from the same access point, reducing the inventory of specialized equipment needed.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple catheters of different lengths are used, then all blockages can be treated, but procedure time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic length adjustment mechanism allows the operator to quickly extend or retract the shaft between treatment targets without removing and reinserting catheters. This reduces the time spent on catheter exchange maneuvers while maintaining access to multiple blockage sites.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is pre-configured with the capability to reach multiple target distances, and the length can be adjusted in advance for each treatment segment. This eliminates the need for time-consuming decisions and preparations associated with selecting and exchanging between multiple catheters during the procedure.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple catheters are inserted and removed, then multiple blockages can be addressed, but sterility protocol complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The single catheter with adjustable length remains in place throughout the procedure, eliminating repeated breaches of the sterile field that occur with catheter exchanges. The length adjustment can be performed without removing the catheter from the patient, simplifying sterility maintenance.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple catheters are used, then all blockages can be treated, but risk of vessel damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable shaft length allows the operator to precisely position the balloon at the target without excessive manipulation or forceful advancement required when using fixed-length catheters. This reduces mechanical stress on the vessel wall and lowers the risk of unintended vessel damage during catheter positioning.
Data Source
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AI summary
Length-adjustable catheter 102 to treat malformations, constrictions, obstructions, lesions, and blockages within patients' blood vessels. The length of the shaft of a length-adjustable catheter, to which the current application is directed, can be adjusted 106,108 over a range of lengths prior to and during medical procedures. In many implementations, length adjustment is accompanied by indications, to the medical provider, of the extent of a length adjustment. The indications may include one or more of visual markings, haptic feedback, radio-opaque markings, and/or other types of indications. In many implementations, the variable-length mechanism of the length-adjustable catheter is mechanically lockable following length adjustment.