Bioabsorbable Spiral-Channel Stent for Reduced Migration and Clogging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current stents often migrate and clog, requiring additional procedures for extraction and/or replacement, especially in chronic pancreatitis where fibrotic strictures necessitate frequent stent exchanges.
Innovation Solution
A biodegradable stent with two external longitudinal spiral channels on its exterior surface, providing fluid communication and a central lumen for a guide wire, is designed for biliary or pancreatic placements, optimizing fluid flow and reducing migration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional stents are used, then they provide structural support, but they migrate and clog requiring frequent exchanges
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is divided into multiple segments or struts that can independently expand and conform to the duct geometry, improving stability while maintaining flexibility. The segmented structure allows better adaptation to irregular surfaces, reducing migration.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent incorporates a nested design where inner components are housed within outer structures, allowing for compact delivery and controlled expansion. This nesting mechanism enables the stent to securely anchor in place, preventing migration and reducing the need for frequent exchanges.
2Productivity
If stents are placed to maintain duct patency, then fluid flow is restored, but the stents clog and require replacement
Solution Approach 1:
The stent incorporates porous materials in its structure that allow fluid passage through the stent walls, not just through the central lumen. This multi-directional flow capability reduces the likelihood of clogging by distributing fluid flow across multiple pathways.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent design transitions from a single-dimensional central lumen to a three-dimensional network of channels and pores. This dimensional expansion creates multiple flow paths, ensuring that if one path becomes obstructed, fluid can still flow through alternative routes, maintaining patency.
3Ease of operation
If multiple plastic stents are sequentially placed for fibrotic strictures, then drainage is achieved, but the procedure becomes expensive and risky
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is designed with multi-functional capabilities, combining structural support, drug delivery, and stone dissolution functions in a single device. This eliminates the need for sequential placement of multiple specialized stents, reducing procedural complexity and associated risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges multiple therapeutic functions into a single stent device: mechanical support to maintain patency, embedded medications to treat fibrosis and dissolve stones, and a porous structure to facilitate drainage. This consolidation replaces the need for multiple separate interventions.
Data Source
AI summary
A stent is disclosed that has an elongated body composed of a bioabsorbable polymer having a proximal end, a distal end, two open spiral channels formed on the exterior surface of the body to provide fluid communication between the proximal end and the distal end. The stent also has a central lumen open at the proximal and distal ends of the stent for the passage of a guide wire. A method for using the stent and a kit containing the stent are also disclosed.