Biopsy Needle With Distal Bioimpedance Electrodes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current biopsy techniques face challenges in achieving accurate tissue sampling due to the heterogeneity of organs, leading to potential misdiagnosis, as the biopsy needle fires forward, taking samples from a volume further than where the measured impedance originates, resulting in insufficient sampling accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A biopsy needle design with a cannula and inner needle configuration, featuring at least two measuring electrodes and a biopsy cavity, where the inner needle is accommodated inside the cannula, allowing for localized bioimpedance measurement and enhanced sampling accuracy by focusing the measuring volume on the sharpened distal end, with a high measurement sensitivity ratio, ensuring that the tissue sample is taken from the same volume measured, thereby improving spatial accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the biopsy needle fires forward to take samples from a volume further than where the measured impedance originates, then the biopsy can capture tissue from the target site, but the sampling accuracy deteriorates because the measured impedance does not represent the actual sampled volume
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional electrode configuration by placing the measurement electrodes at the distal end of the inner needle rather than the outer needle. This reversal ensures that the impedance measurement originates from the same volume that will be sampled, resolving the spatial accuracy problem while maintaining sampling efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a nested needle configuration where the inner needle with measurement electrodes is accommodated inside the outer needle. The inner needle fires forward first to perform localized impedance measurement, then the outer needle follows to capture the tissue sample from the same location, ensuring measurement and sampling volumes coincide
2Ease of operation
If the electrode configuration generates sensitivity distribution backwards from the needle tip, then the impedance measurement can be obtained, but the measurement precision deteriorates because the sensitivity does not focus on the actual biopsy sampling volume
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional electrode configuration by placing the measurement electrodes at the distal end of the inner needle rather than the outer needle. This reversal ensures that the impedance measurement originates from the same volume that will be sampled, resolving the spatial accuracy problem while maintaining sampling efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent concentrates the measurement sensitivity locally at the distal end of the inner needle by placing the electrodes there. This creates a focused sensitivity distribution that matches the biopsy sampling volume, improving spatial resolution while maintaining ease of impedance measurement
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The improved biopsy needle achieves a high measurement sensitivity of over 98% in front of the needle tip, ensuring that the tissue sample accurately represents the measured volume, enhancing the accuracy of tissue sampling and reducing the risk of misdiagnosis by capturing the most sensitive tissue measured during the procedure.
Implementation Method 1
Electrical properties of tissues differ from each other enabling tissue discrimination by bioimpedance spectroscopy
Data Source
AI summary
A biopsy needle (100) comprises a cannula (5) with a distal end (15), an inner needle (1) that has a sharpened distal end (16) and at least one biopsy cavity (7) that is located at a distance (L3) from the sharpened distal end (16). The cannula (5) and the inner needle (1) are configured so that the inner needle (1) is accommodated inside the cannula (5) and the inner needle (1) and the cannula (5) are movable with regard to each other. The inner needle (1) further comprises at least two measuring electrodes (1, 4; 3, 4) for measuring a bioimpedance spectrum, the measuring electrodes (1, 4; 3, 4) defining a measuring volume that is localized to the distal end (16) of the inner needle (1).