Adjustable Interventional Device for Single-Incision Cardiac Ablation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cardiac ablation procedures face challenges in accessing and creating a continuous barrier in the heart due to variations in patient anatomy, often requiring multiple incisions and risking adjacent organs, which can lead to lower success rates and longer recovery times.
Innovation Solution
A device with adjustable length and angle configurations, integrated imaging, and inflatable structures for stabilization, enabling minimally invasive procedures through a single incision, allowing precise access and continuous tissue ablation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple incisions are used to access the heart, then access to different cardiac regions is improved, but risk to adjacent organs increases and procedural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs a flexible, adjustable shaft that can be dynamically reconfigured during the procedure. The shaft includes multiple articulation segments that can be independently positioned to navigate around anatomical structures and reach different cardiac regions through a single incision path, eliminating the need for multiple incisions while avoiding adjacent organs.
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes three-dimensional articulation capabilities with multiple degrees of freedom in the shaft design. This allows the instrument to access cardiac regions by navigating in three-dimensional space through a single incision, rather than requiring multiple two-dimensional incision points, thereby reducing organ risk while maintaining access versatility.
2Reliability
If multiple incisions are used to create continuous barrier, then complete ablation is improved, but procedural time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device incorporates pre-positioned articulation joints and configurable shaft sections that are prepared in advance to enable continuous movement along the desired ablation path. This preliminary configuration allows the operator to create a continuous barrier in a single procedural pass through one incision, rather than requiring multiple separate incisions and repositioning maneuvers that would extend procedural time.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable device serves multiple functions: it can navigate to different cardiac regions, maintain stable positioning, deliver ablation energy, and create continuous barriers all through a single incision. This multi-functionality consolidates what would traditionally require multiple incisions and separate procedural steps into one unified approach, reducing overall procedural time while ensuring complete ablation.
3Device complexity
If fixed configuration devices are used, then device simplicity is improved, but adaptability to patient anatomy varies
Solution Approach 1:
The device shaft is divided into multiple articulated segments or joints that can be independently controlled. Each segment can be adjusted to accommodate variations in patient anatomy, allowing the device to adapt to different anatomical configurations while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure based on modular, repeatable joint designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates adjustable parameters including shaft articulation angles, segment lengths, and positioning depths that can be modified to match specific patient anatomies. These parameter changes allow a single device design to adapt to varying anatomical conditions without requiring completely different device structures for each patient.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for performing intervention procedures includes an elongated body having a first end and a second end. The elongated body includes a hollow tool channel extending through the elongated body from the first end to the second end. The tool channel is configured to receive an intervention tool and a length-adjusting element disposed at the first end or the second end of the elongated body. The length-adjusting element is configured to enable a length of the elongated body to be adjusted. The elongated body includes an angle-adjusting element disposed along the length of the elongated body. The angle-adjusting element is configured to enable the elongated body to be bent. The device includes an imaging system disposed at the first end or the second end of the elongated body. The imaging system includes an imaging device and an illumination device.