Trabecular Meshwork Removal Using a Blunt Flexible Canal Follower

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current trabecular excision devices suffer from imprecise cutting, significant bleeding, and collateral damage due to sharp blades, and are limited by rigid shafts that require complex motions to follow the curved shape of Schlemm's canal.

Innovation Solution

A device with a non-cutting, blunt tissue engager and a flexible, superelastic shaft that tears and disinserts trabecular meshwork by applying shear and tension, guided by a guide member to follow the canal's contour, reducing the need for sharp cutting and stabilizing the device with a spring-like force.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of substance

If sharp cutting blades are used to excise trabecular meshwork, then material removal is achieved, but significant bleeding and collateral tissue damage occur

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetrabecular meshwork removalVSAvoidbleeding and tissue damage

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of substanceVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the cutting function from the device and replaces it with a tearing mechanism. The blunt-tipped catheter tears the trabecular meshwork apart through mechanical disruption rather than cutting, eliminating the need for sharp blades that cause bleeding. The torn tissue is then suctioned away through the catheter lumen.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of using a sharp blade to cut tissue, the patent inverts the approach by using a blunt instrument to tear and disrupt tissue. This reversal of the cutting mechanism fundamentally eliminates the harmful cutting action while achieving the same tissue removal goal through suction of disrupted material.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Device complexity

If rigid shafts with fixed cutting elements are used, then device structure is simple, but complex motions are required to follow the curved shape of Schlemm's canal

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveshaft structureVSAvoidmotion complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent transforms the rigid shaft into a flexible catheter that can dynamically adapt to the curved geometry of Schlemm's canal. The flexible catheter naturally follows the canal's contour without requiring complex manual manipulation, making the device self-adapting to the anatomical structure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs a flexible catheter construction that allows the device to bend and conform to the curved path of Schlemm's canal. This flexibility eliminates the need for rigid shafts and complex articulation mechanisms, simplifying both device structure and operation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

3Reliability

If single stab-like partial cuts are made in trabecular meshwork, then tissue disruption is achieved, but cuts are imprecise and discontinuous

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetissue disruptionVSAvoidcut precision

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces discontinuous stab-like cuts with a continuous tearing action. As the flexible catheter is advanced through Schlemm's canal, it continuously tears the trabecular meshwork along the canal's length, creating a continuous disruption rather than isolated partial cuts. This continuous action improves precision and reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

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 device minimizes bleeding and tissue damage while achieving precise, continuous removal of trabecular meshwork, enhancing aqueous drainage by creating a stable, enlarged Schlemm's canal.

Implementation Method 1

A device with a non-cutting, blunt tissue engager and a flexible, superelastic shaft that tears and disinserts trabecular meshwork by applying shear and tension

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectSuperelasticity: Pseudoelasticity

Implementation Method 2

stabilizing the device with a spring-like force

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectElasticity: Elasticity

Data Source

PatentUS12582551B2Methods and devices for increasing aqueous drainage of the eye

Publication Date: 2026.03.24 IANTREK INC

AI summary

Devices and methods to remove trabecular meshwork to treat glaucoma and other conditions which may not utilize cutting elements when stripping the trabecular meshwork. The trabeculorhexis parts tissue by applying non-cutting shear and tension to the tissue to disinsert the tissue from its attachments. Reducing or eliminating the need for sharp cutting implements in the eye reduces the likelihood of incisional bleeding, iris and scleral tissue maceration and further inadvertent tissue damage of the gonio structure of the eye. In another aspect, a cutting element may be used to form a circumferential slit in a wall of Schlemm's canal in conjunction with removal of trabecular meshwork or independently.