Bipolar RF Ablation Electrode with Threaded Grooves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bipolar electrodes for radio frequency ablation face challenges in efficiently reaching vascular lesions like varicose veins without causing thermal damage to surrounding tissues, particularly due to difficulties in navigating through blood vessels and controlling heat generation.
Innovation Solution
A bipolar electrode design featuring a cylindrical body with screw thread-shaped coupling grooves for secure insertion and a cooling water circulation channel to manage heat, ensuring the active and passive electrode bodies remain integrated and prevent thermal damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the electrode is moved to the vascular lesion, then the treatment can be performed, but the electrode may collide with the inner wall of the blood vessel causing separation of electrode bodies
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode is divided into multiple electrode bodies that are independently wound on separate coupling grooves of the cylindrical body. This segmentation allows each electrode body to be securely anchored in its own groove, preventing separation during movement while maintaining the overall functionality of the bipolar electrode system.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode bodies are nested within the cylindrical body structure, with each electrode body wound on and inserted into a specific coupling groove. This nested configuration ensures that the electrode bodies remain integrated with the cylindrical body during navigation, preventing separation while allowing efficient movement to the target lesion.
2Productivity
If radiofrequency is applied to heat the lesion, then the vascular lesion can be ablated, but thermal damage may occur to surrounding tissue outside the lesion
Solution Approach 1:
The bipolar electrode configuration creates a localized electric field and heat generation zone precisely between the two electrode bodies. This local quality ensures that thermal energy is concentrated at the target lesion site while minimizing heat diffusion to surrounding healthy tissue, thereby achieving effective ablation without excessive thermal damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The cylindrical body acts as an intermediary structure that positions and spaces the two electrode bodies at a predetermined interval. This intermediary configuration controls the electric field distribution and heat generation pattern, ensuring that thermal energy is directed at the lesion while protecting surrounding tissues from excessive heat exposure.
3Reliability
If the electrode bodies are wound on the cylindrical body, then secure insertion is achieved, but the structure becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The cylindrical body serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the structural framework for the electrode, contains the cooling water circulation channel for thermal management, and incorporates the coupling grooves for securing the electrode bodies. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, thereby maintaining reliability while minimizing overall structural complexity.
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 electrode effectively navigates through blood vessels without separation, maintains efficient heat control, and reduces the risk of thermal damage to surrounding tissues, enhancing treatment precision and safety.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling water circulation channel in which cooling water supplied from a cooling pipe circulates
Implementation Method 2
a lesion such as cancer tissue or the like is heated by radio frequency emitted from an electrode and thus is cauterized and necrosed
Data Source
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AI summary
A bipolar electrode for radio frequency ablation, the electrode including: a cylindrical body provided with first and second coupling grooves formed on an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical body in a screw thread shape and spaced apart from each other at a predetermined interval; an active electrode body wound on the first coupling groove of the cylindrical body a plurality of times to be inserted thereinto, and connected to a first terminal of a radiofrequency generator; and a passive electrode body wound on the second coupling groove of the cylindrical body a plurality of times to be inserted thereinto, and connected to a second terminal of the radiofrequency generator. Thus, the electrode has effects of efficiently being moved to a vascular lesion such as varicose veins, and reducing a risk of thermal damage to surrounding tissue outside the lesion during treatment.