Adjustable Pelvic Implant for Urinary Incontinence
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for urinary and fecal incontinence, such as sling procedures, often result in complications like urethral obstruction, de novo urge incontinence, hemorrhage, prolonged urinary retention, infection, and tissue damage, and are not minimally invasive with significant side effects, limiting their effectiveness and quality of life improvement for patients.
Innovation Solution
The development of pelvic implants that engage and pull lateral urethral support tissue to tighten and provide slack reduction, eliminating the need for mesh or supportive structures under the urethra, using configurable shapes and anchoring mechanisms to stabilize the implants, and incorporating adjustable components for precise tensioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional sling procedures are used to treat incontinence, then urethral support is provided, but complications such as urethral obstruction, hemorrhage, infection, and tissue damage occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the mesh component traditionally used in sling procedures and replaces it with an adjustable suture system. This extraction of the mesh element eliminates the source of many complications while preserving the supportive function through alternative means (adjustable sutures tied to anchors), directly addressing the contradiction between treatment effectiveness and complication reduction
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces an adjustable suture system that can be modified post-implantation to change tension and positioning. This dynamic capability allows optimization of urethral support while minimizing harmful effects, as the system can be adjusted to achieve the right balance between support and avoiding obstruction or tissue damage
2Strength
If mesh or supportive structures are placed under the urethra, then urethral support is enhanced, but tissue damage and infection risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent explicitly removes mesh from the implant system, replacing it with sutures and anchors. This extraction eliminates the foreign body reaction and infection risks associated with mesh while maintaining urethral support through the suture-tension mechanism, directly resolving the contradiction between support strength and tissue safety
Solution Approach 2:
The use of absorbable sutures replaces permanent mesh structures. These sutures provide temporary support during the critical healing period and then naturally degrade, eliminating long-term foreign body presence that causes tissue damage and infection risks while still providing necessary support strength during recovery
3Ease of operation
If fixed tension sling procedures are performed, then surgical simplicity is maintained, but precision in tensioning is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable suture system allows post-surgical modification of tension, transforming a static fixed-tension approach into a dynamic system. This enables precise tensioning to be achieved after implantation, combining surgical simplicity with precision through a two-stage process (simple implantation followed by precise adjustment)
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical procedure is simplified by implanting the basic structure (anchors and sutures) without requiring precise tensioning at the time of surgery. The precision action is performed later during adjustment, separating the complex precision requirement from the initial surgical procedure, thereby maintaining surgical simplicity while achieving tensioning precision
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus and methods are provided for treating urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and other pelvic defects or dysfunctions, in both males and females, using one or more lateral implants to reinforce the supportive tissue of the urethra. The implants can be configured as a sling device having at least one extension arm and a tissue support portion having an eyelet, wherein a portion of the at least one extension arm is adapted to slide through and adjustably attach with the eyelet.