Bendable Cardiac Surgery Instruments for Valve Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery techniques face challenges in accessing and aligning native heart valves due to limited space, making it difficult to accurately size and deliver prosthetic heart valves.
Innovation Solution
A bendable minimally invasive cardiac surgery instrument featuring an elongated shaft and a modular distal shaft, similar to a spinal column, which is selectively bendable to align properly with the native heart valve, allowing for precise positioning and alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive thoracic access procedures are used, then patient trauma is reduced and recovery is faster, but the lack of space makes device positioning and alignment difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument shaft is divided into multiple articulated segments that can bend relative to each other, allowing the distal end to reach the heart valve through small incisions while the proximal end remains outside the patient's body for operator control
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft is designed with a curved, flexible configuration rather than a straight rigid structure, enabling it to navigate through the curved anatomical pathways from the thoracic incision to the heart valve, accommodating the limited space and angular constraints of minimally invasive access
2Strength
If a straight rigid shaft is used, then structural strength is maintained, but the instrument cannot align with the native heart valve axis through small incisions
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft comprises multiple rigid or semi-rigid segments connected by flexible joints, allowing each segment to maintain structural integrity while the overall shaft can bend and articulate to align with the heart valve axis through constrained access paths
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic articulated structure that can change its configuration, bending at the joints to adapt its angle and orientation to match the native heart valve axis while maintaining sufficient structural strength for device delivery
3Adaptability or versatility
If the shaft is made flexible to navigate the access path, then alignment with the heart valve is improved, but structural stability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The articulated segmentation allows the shaft to achieve flexibility for alignment while each individual segment maintains structural stability, and the segmented construction enables the shaft to return to a stable linear configuration once the desired angle is achieved
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft's physical parameters change dynamically - it transitions from a stable linear state during insertion to a bent articulated state for alignment, then returns to a stable configured state for device delivery, with the ability to maintain the bent shape during the critical delivery phase
Data Source
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AI summary
A bendable medical instrument including: a handle at a proximal end of the bendable medical instrument, a modular distal shaft including a plurality of vertebrae configured to bend and situated near a distal end of the bendable medical instrument, a bendable internal rod disposed through at least some of the plurality of vertebrae, the bendable internal rod having a modular cell structure, and a distal tip coupled to the modular distal shaft at the distal end. The plurality of vertebrae configured to bend to position the distal tip in a patient and the bendable internal rod configured to bend with the plurality of vertebrae.