Anchor Device with Suture Loop for Aortic Graft Fixation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current endoluminal grafts for treating aortic aneurysms face challenges such as leakage at the proximal juncture and graft migration, which can necessitate open surgical repair, especially in patients who are not suitable for open surgery due to difficult access and strain on the heart.
Innovation Solution
A system featuring an anchor device with a stent and suture loop, barbs, and radiopaque material for improved fixation and visibility, along with expandable filling structures that can be inserted through the suture loop to form a seal and lock onto the anchor device, ensuring secure placement and blood flow lumens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If endoluminal grafts are used for treating aortic aneurysms, then recovery time is reduced and patient morbidity is decreased, but leakage at proximal juncture and graft migration occur
Solution Approach 1:
The graft system is divided into modular components: a proximal anchor device with barbs for secure attachment, a distal filter component, and interconnecting elements. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally while maintaining overall system reliability and preventing migration or leakage.
Solution Approach 2:
The proximal anchor device with barbs is deployed first to establish secure fixation in the aortic wall before the distal filter is attached. This preliminary anchoring action prevents subsequent migration and ensures stable positioning of the entire graft system, addressing the reliability issue while maintaining the minimally invasive approach.
2Reliability
If open surgical repair is performed to ensure secure graft fixation, then leakage and migration are prevented, but patient morbidity increases and access difficulty arises
Solution Approach 1:
The barbed anchor device serves as an intermediary mechanism that provides secure fixation equivalent to open surgery but through an endoluminal approach. The barbs embed into the aortic wall to create reliable attachment without requiring external surgical access, thus preventing leakage and migration while avoiding the harmful effects of open surgery.
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional mechanical fixation method requiring open surgical access is replaced with a self-expanding barbed anchor system that achieves secure fixation through controlled expansion and barb engagement with the vessel wall. This substitution maintains fixation reliability while eliminating the need for high-morbidity open procedures.
3Reliability
If the distal aperture diameter is reduced to prevent migration, then graft fixation stability improves, but filling structure insertion becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The distal aperture is designed to be dynamically adjustable: during deployment, the aperture maintains a larger diameter to facilitate easy insertion of filling structures and positioning components. After positioning is complete, the aperture can be reduced in diameter to prevent migration and ensure secure fixation, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The larger aperture dimension is maintained during the preliminary positioning and insertion phase to ease operation. Once the filling structures are properly positioned and the distal filter is attached, the aperture is reduced to its smaller fixation-stabilizing dimension, ensuring migration prevention without compromising the ease of initial deployment.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, for deployment in a blood vessel includes an anchor device having a stent and a suture loop that joins distal end portions of the stent. A first filling structure and a second filling structure are at least partially insertable through the suture loop to an area within the stent when the stent is in an expanded state. The anchor device has a size such that at least a portion of the first filling structure and at least a portion of the second filling structure protrude through openings in the anchor device to form a seal against a wall of the blood vessel when the first filling structure and the second filling structure have been at least partially inserted through the suture loop and have been filled. A method allows for repairing one or more blood vessels using the system.