Adjustable Catheter with Thread-like Elements for Guidewire Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current devices for inserting guidewires into blood vessels, particularly for heart valve procedures, face challenges such as reliance on two-dimensional imaging, difficulty in positioning, and the guidewire's tendency to bend due to its yielding material, leading to potential damage to surrounding tissues and suboptimal placement.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable device with a self-centering mechanism, featuring an external catheter with notched thread-like elements that can be folded and extended to securely engage blood vessel walls, allowing precise control over the guidewire's direction and orientation through the use of a handle to modulate the thread-like elements' position and length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the guidewire is made of yielding material to avoid tissue damage, then tissue safety is improved, but the guidewire bends easily and cannot remain straight to pass through the defective valve
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter acts as an intermediary structure that provides rigid support for the guidewire during insertion. The guidewire is inserted through the catheter, which maintains its straight configuration, allowing the guidewire to pass through the defective valve without bending, while the catheter itself protects the tissue from damage by controlling the guidewire's path.
2Measurement precision
If a second imaging apparatus is added to provide three-dimensional view, then positioning accuracy is improved, but device complexity and operational difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device is designed to be self-centering through its specific structural configuration, which automatically positions the catheter at the center of the blood vessel without requiring complex external imaging guidance. The self-centering mechanism eliminates the need for additional imaging apparatus while maintaining positioning accuracy.
3Measurement precision
If thread-like elements are used for self-centering, then catheter positioning is improved, but the elements flex along circumferential direction and require repeated retraction and extension
Solution Approach 1:
The thread-like elements are designed with dynamic characteristics that allow them to flex and adapt to the blood vessel walls. By making the elements flexible rather than rigid, they can conform to the vessel geometry while maintaining the self-centering function, reducing the need for repeated retraction and extension operations.
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
Enables easier and more precise placement of the guidewire by counteracting unwanted displacements and allowing for flexible orientation, reducing the risk of tissue damage and improving the accuracy of guidewire insertion, especially in complex procedures like Valve-In-Valve techniques.
Implementation Method 1
The thread-like elements 186, having thermal memory, bend and move radially away over the internal catheter 190 the distal element 188 retracting it
Data Source
Figure 1~2a
Figure 2b
Figure 3
AI summary
A device for inserting a guide wire suitable for heart valve prostheses into a blood vessel, comprising an internal catheter with a handle and an external catheter having threadlike elements (5a, b) formed between notches (6a1-3, 6b1-3). The notches of the first plurality of notches are orderly alternated with the notches of the second plurality of notches, wherein a first threadlike element (5a) is shorter than all the other threadlike elements and a second threadlike element (5b) is longer than all the other threadlike elements and is diametrically opposite to the first threadlike element. Thus quick and firm positioning of the threadlike elements (5) against irregular walls of a blood vessel is possible.