Endoluminal Delivery System for Vascular Bifurcation Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The placement and deployment of stents at vascular bifurcations, such as the aortic bifurcation, are challenging due to difficulties in aligning sidewall openings with side branch vessels, and existing delivery systems are complex and interfere with the removal of side branch prosthetic devices.
Innovation Solution
An endoluminal delivery system featuring an introducer sheath, delivery catheter, guidewire, and a guidewire tube with an enlarged feature to prevent insertion into the introducer sheath, facilitating accurate alignment and removal of the guidewire tube before deploying the endoluminal device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple catheters or features are included in the delivery system to maintain side branch guidewires, then side branch guidewire placement is improved, but device complexity increases and removal of the main body delivery catheter becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire tube is extracted as a separate, removable component from the delivery system. It can be removed after the main body device is deployed, allowing the main body delivery catheter to be withdrawn without the guidewire tube interfering. This extraction principle resolves the contradiction by separating the functions of guidewire maintenance and catheter removal into distinct temporal phases.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery system is segmented into distinct functional components: the main body delivery catheter, the guidewire tube, and the endoluminal device. The guidewire tube acts as an independent segment that can be selectively removed, allowing the main body catheter to be withdrawn separately. This segmentation enables independent control of each component's lifecycle in the procedure.
2Measurement precision
If guidewire tubes are used to pre-load side branch guidewires, then alignment accuracy is improved, but the guidewire tube may interfere with removal of the main body delivery catheter
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire tube is used preliminarily to align and pre-load the side branch guidewire through the sidewall opening before the main body device is deployed. After this preliminary alignment function is accomplished, the guidewire tube is removed, eliminating its potential interference with subsequent catheter removal. This preliminary action principle allows the tube to serve its alignment purpose temporarily without creating permanent obstruction.
Solution Approach 2:
The guidewire tube's presence in the system is made dynamic rather than static. It is introduced, used for alignment, and then removed at a specific point in the procedure. This dynamic approach allows the system to transition from a state where the tube is present (providing alignment) to a state where it is absent (allowing easy catheter removal), resolving the contradiction between alignment accuracy and ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
An endoluminal delivery system including an introducer sheath, a delivery catheter configured to pass through the introducer sheath, an endoluminal device releasably maintained along the delivery catheter at a delivery profile, and a guidewire tube removably received by the endoluminal device, the guidewire tube including an enlarged feature configured to prevent insertion of the guidewire tube into a body of a patient.