Thread-Released Biliary Stent Delivery for Low-Force Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing stent delivery systems face challenges in efficiently delivering stents with desired foreshortening, conformability, and migration resistance, particularly in small diameter vessels like the biliary tract, due to high deployment forces and difficulties in loading and deploying stents using standard coaxial delivery systems.
Innovation Solution
A rapid exchange catheter system is used to secure stents radially on the catheter, allowing for easier deployment and reducing fluoroscopy times by utilizing a thread mechanism to unravel the stent from a collapsed configuration, facilitating delivery to target locations with reduced radial forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If standard coaxial delivery systems are used to deliver stents, then the delivery system can provide structural support, but high deployment forces are required and stent loading is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional stent delivery approach by using a rapid exchange catheter where the stent is secured radially on the catheter rather than axially. The stent is held in a collapsed configuration by a thread that wraps around it, and deployment is achieved by unraveling the thread rather than pushing the stent forward. This inversion reduces deployment forces and simplifies the loading process.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery system employs dynamic elements including a thread that can be unraveled to release the stent, and a catheter design that allows the stent to transition from a collapsed to an expanded state. The thread mechanism provides dynamic control over stent retention and release, enabling easy loading and deployment with reduced forces.
2Measurement precision
If stents are delivered in small diameter vessels like the biliary tract, then precise placement is achieved, but migration resistance and conformability are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by designing the stent with varying properties along its length, including tapered ends that provide conformability to the vessel geometry while the main body maintains structural support. The stent can be crimped to different diameters to match specific vessel sizes, enabling precise placement in small diameter vessels while maintaining migration resistance through localized structural features.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery system enables parameter changes by allowing the stent to be delivered in a collapsed state with a reduced diameter that fits small vessels, and then expanded to a larger diameter at the target site. The thread mechanism and catheter design facilitate this parameter transition, providing both precise placement in small vessels and reliable migration resistance after expansion.
3Quantity of substance
If traditional delivery systems are used, then complete stent coverage is provided, but procedural time and fluoroscopy time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-securing the stent in a collapsed configuration on the catheter using a thread mechanism before reaching the target site. This preliminary preparation allows for rapid deployment by simply unraveling the thread, significantly reducing procedural time and fluoroscopy time while maintaining complete stent coverage at the implantation site.
Solution Approach 2:
The rapid exchange catheter design enables skipping the time-consuming steps of traditional stent delivery by using a thread-based retention mechanism that can be quickly released. The stent is already positioned and secured on the catheter, allowing the operator to rapidly deploy it by pulling the thread, thus rushing through the deployment process while ensuring complete coverage.
Data Source
AI summary
A delivery system for delivering an implant to a body lumen of a patient. The delivery system may include a hub, an elongate shaft coupled with the hub, and a thread for securing the implant to the elongate shaft. The elongate shaft may include a proximal portion at least partially defining a first lumen and a second lumen, a distal portion at least partially defining the first lumen, and a side port in the proximal portion and distal of the hub. The side port may be in communication with the first lumen. The thread may include a distal portion configured to wrap around the distal portion of the elongate shaft and/or the implant and a proximal portion configured to extend through the second lumen. The delivery system may be configured to deliver the implant to a target location in a lumen of a biliary tract of the patient.