Bendable Remote Gripping Tool for Thrombus Retrieval

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current medical devices for removing blood clots and thromboembolic disorders are either invasive, time-consuming, or difficult to maneuver in small or tortuous blood vessels, often causing damage and failing to capture clots effectively, especially in surgically inaccessible areas like the brain.

Innovation Solution

A hand-held gripping device with a bendable central portion and jaws or nets that can be adjusted to reach interior anatomy, equipped with a bag for enclosing clots and a mechanism for applying fibrinolytic agents to dissolve them, allowing for selective and rapid removal of clots from small blood vessels.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If prior art devices use fixed-length central portions or telescoping portions, then the device structure is simpler, but the device cannot reach interior portions of anatomy or navigate tortuous blood vessels effectively

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to reach interior portions of anatomyVSAvoiddevice construction complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs a flexible central portion with a corrugated member that can bend to various angles, replacing rigid fixed-length or telescoping portions. This flexible design allows the device to navigate tortuous blood vessels and reach interior portions of anatomy while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure without complex joints or rotation mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

2Adaptability or versatility

If prior art devices use rails and jointed connections to facilitate flexibility, then the device can adjust to different angles, but the construction becomes complicated and the device is heavier

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveangular adjustment capabilityVSAvoidconstruction complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces complex rail and jointed connection systems with a simple flexible central portion having a corrugated member. This single flexible component provides the necessary angular adjustment capability to reach interior portions of anatomy while avoiding the complexity and weight of multiple joints, rails, and rotation mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

3Productivity

If clot removal devices are invasive and time-consuming, then clots can be removed, but patient damage increases and treatment time extends

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclot removal speedVSAvoidpatient damage

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces invasive mechanical clot removal methods with a minimally invasive approach using a flexible device that can deliver fibrinolytic agents directly to the clot. This substitution of mechanical force with biochemical dissolution reduces patient damage while maintaining effective clot removal capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces fibrinolytic agents as an intermediary substance that facilitates clot dissolution. Instead of directly mechanically removing the clot which causes damage, the device delivers enzymes that chemically break down the clot, reducing harmful mechanical effects on patient tissue.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Reliability

If prior art devices fail to capture clots effectively in small blood vessels, then clot removal is possible, but capture reliability decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveclot capture effectivenessVSAvoiddevice size for small vessels

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLength of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses a flexible central portion with a corrugated member that can bend and conform to the contours of small and tortuous blood vessels. This flexibility allows the device to navigate and effectively capture clots in small vessels where rigid devices would fail, improving capture reliability without requiring the device to be excessively large.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

Data Source

PatentUS9901245B2Selectively bendable remote gripping tool

Publication Date: 2018.02.27 KOVARIK CARTER J

AI summary

A hand-held gripping device that allows one of a surgeon, a dentist, and an orthodontist to reach interior portions of a person's anatomy, includes a gripping portion having a pair of jaws or nets movable relative to each other between fully clamped and fully opened positions thereof, a handle portion spaced apart from the jaw portion by a bendable central portion that has a hollow, bendable corrugated member with at least one cord extending therethrough. The retrieval of a thrombus to promptly address ischemic issues is made possible due to the flexible corrugated member being able to access small vessels in a patient's brain, as well as magnetic properties of the thrombus and/or jaws, nets, bags, or flexible fingers, of the grasping end, thus facilitating removal of the thrombus.