Adjustable Implant Guide-Wire Advancement System
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Ischemic heart disease leads to mitral regurgitation due to papillary muscle dysfunction and mitral valve annulus dilation, causing leaflet tethering and decreased cardiac output, which existing treatments fail to effectively address.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising adjustable repair chords and a tissue-engaging mechanism that uses a guide wire to adjust chord tension, facilitating the implantation of annuloplasty rings or prosthetic valves by sliding along docking stations to restore physiological dimensions and improve valve coaptation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing treatments are used for mitral regurgitation, then the condition is treated with conventional methods, but they fail to effectively address papillary muscle dysfunction and annulus dilation
Solution Approach 1:
The treatment is divided into separate functional components: tissue-engaging elements for anchoring, adjustable repair chords for tension control, and annuloplasty rings for structural support. This segmentation allows each component to address specific aspects of the pathology independently, improving overall treatment effectiveness for complex conditions like papillary muscle dysfunction and annulus dilation
Solution Approach 2:
The repair chords are designed to be adjustable after implantation, allowing dynamic modification of tension levels. This enables the treatment to adapt to changing patient conditions and optimize valve function over time, addressing the lack of versatility in conventional fixed treatments
2Reliability
If adjustable repair chords are implemented, then chord tension can be adjusted to restore valve function, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Docking stations serve as intermediary coupling elements between the adjustment mechanism and tissue-engaging elements. These standardized interfaces simplify the overall device architecture by providing predefined connection points, reducing the complexity of integrating multiple functional components while maintaining adjustability
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustment mechanism is designed to work with multiple tissue-engaging elements and docking station configurations. This universal design allows a single adjustment system to handle various implantation scenarios and tissue conditions, improving valve coaptation reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity
3Ease of operation
If tissue-engaging elements with docking stations are used, then guide-wire based advancement is enabled, but the implantation procedure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The docking stations are designed to automatically align and couple with the guide wire during implantation. This self-aligning mechanism eliminates the need for complex manual positioning procedures, improving ease of operation while the modular docking structure keeps the added complexity manageable through standardized interfaces
Data Source
AI summary
A tissue-engaging element has a distal portion configured to engage a portion of tissue of the heart. A guide member is reversibly coupled to the tissue-engaging element. An elongate implant has a distal end and a proximal end, at least the distal end being slidably coupled to the guide member. A tool is slidable along the guide member distally toward the tissue-engaging element while (i) the tool is coupled to at least the distal end of the elongate implant, and (ii) the guide member is coupled to the tissue-engaging element, such that sliding of the tool along the guide member distally toward the tissue-engaging element while (i) the tool is coupled to at least the distal end of the elongate implant, and (ii) the guide member is coupled to the tissue-engaging element, slides at least the distal end of the elongate implant toward the tissue-engaging element.