Bifurcation Catheter Nested Design Reduces Crossing Profile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current catheter systems for stenting bifurcated vessels face challenges in providing a smooth crossing profile and efficient deployment, making them difficult to use for precise stent placement and dilatation in bifurcation lesions.
Innovation Solution
A catheter system with a specific configuration that includes a stent crimped over inflatable balloons, a linking device to maintain alignment and prevent premature dislodgement, and flexible tubular extensions for reduced crossing profile, allowing for precise maneuvering and independent operation of catheters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a catheter system is designed for stenting bifurcated vessels, then it can treat complex vascular lesions, but the crossing profile becomes complex and manipulation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system is divided into separate functional components: a first catheter for the main vessel and a second catheter for the side branch, each with independent balloons and guidewire channels. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall system versatility for treating bifurcated vessels.
Solution Approach 2:
The distal tip of the second catheter is positioned within the lumen of the first catheter, creating a nested configuration. This nesting arrangement reduces the overall crossing profile and allows both catheters to be advanced through a single guiding catheter while maintaining independent operability for treating different vessel segments.
2Productivity
If multiple catheters are introduced simultaneously, then treatment efficiency increases, but alignment precision and control become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A linking device is introduced as an intermediary component that connects and aligns the first and second catheters. This linking device ensures precise longitudinal alignment of the catheter tips at the vessel bifurcation while allowing the catheters to be advanced and manipulated as a coordinated unit, thereby maintaining alignment precision during efficient multi-catheter treatment.
3Length of moving object
If the catheter crossing profile is reduced, then delivery through narrow vessels becomes easier, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The distal tip of the second catheter is nested within the lumen of the first catheter, creating a compact configuration that significantly reduces the overall crossing profile. This nested arrangement allows the complex multi-catheter system to pass through narrow vascular channels while maintaining the necessary structural complexity for independent operation of each catheter.
4Productivity
If stent deployment is performed with multiple balloons, then treatment completeness improves, but risk of premature dislodgement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The linking device serves as a mechanical intermediary that secures both catheters to the guiding catheter assembly during the stent deployment process. This linking mechanism prevents premature dislodgement of the catheters while allowing both balloons to be inflated sequentially or simultaneously for complete treatment of the bifurcated vessel lesion.
Solution Approach 2:
The linking device is engaged to secure the catheters to the guiding catheter assembly before balloon inflation begins. This preliminary securing action ensures that the catheters remain in their correct positions throughout the entire stent deployment process, preventing dislodgement while enabling complete treatment of all vessel segments.
Data Source
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AI summary
A catheter system and method are described for stenting a vessel at a bifurcation or sidebranch of the vessel. The catheter system comprises: a first balloon catheter (102) having a shaft with a proximal end and a distal end and a first inflatable balloon (130) mounted on the shaft proximate to the distal end; and a second balloon catheter (104) having a shaft (134) with a proximal end and a distal end, and a second inflatable balloon mounted on the shaft proximate to the distal end, and an elongated flexible extension tube (135) extending distally from the second inflatable balloon; and is characterized in that when the catheter system is in an undeployed state with the first inflatable balloon in a deflated condition, at least a portion of the first inflatable balloon is wrapped around a portion of the flexible extension tube.