Braided Aneurysm Implant with Flexible Inversion Region
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current embolic implants for aneurysm treatment, such as embolic coils, face challenges in effectively treating aneurysms due to issues like recanalization, poor coiling, and difficulty in achieving desired packing density, especially in complex aneurysm morphologies like wide neck or bifurcation, and lack of flexibility in delivery and repositioning.
Innovation Solution
A tubular braid implant with a predetermined shape that includes segments with varying strand diameters and oxide layers, allowing for controlled expansion and folding during implantation, enabling precise placement and expansion to block blood flow into the aneurysm sac.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If embolic coils are used to fill the aneurysm sac or treat the entrance, then the aneurysm can be treated by blocking blood flow, but the coils cannot easily be retracted or repositioned once implanted and may impede blood flow in adjoining vessels if overpacked
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular braid implant is designed with dynamic properties that allow it to be delivered in a constrained state through a catheter and then expand to a stable treatment configuration once deployed. The braid can be repositioned or adjusted during the procedure before final deployment, providing operational flexibility that fixed coils lack.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant utilizes changes in physical parameters (from compressed to expanded state) to transition between delivery and treatment phases. The braid's diameter, shape, and structural properties change during deployment, allowing it to adapt to the aneurysm geometry while maintaining parent vessel patency.
2Reliability
If multiple embolic coils are used to achieve adequate packing density, then the aneurysm can be treated, but the treatment becomes more complex and time-consuming with increased risk of recanalization
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular braid implant is constructed as a segmented structure with multiple struts and connecting elements that work together to provide stable packing. This segmented design allows the single implant to achieve the packing density that would otherwise require multiple separate coils, reducing procedural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant combines multiple functional elements (struts, connectors, expansion mechanism) into a single integrated device that performs the functions of multiple coils. This merging reduces the number of separate components needed and simplifies the deployment process while maintaining effective occlusion.
3Reliability
If the aneurysm entrance is insufficiently packed with coils, then blood flow can persist into the aneurysm, but overpacking can impede blood flow in adjoining vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The tubular braid implant is designed with varying structural properties along its length, with denser packing or reinforcement at the aneurysm neck region to ensure complete occlusion, while maintaining appropriate flexibility and porosity in other regions to preserve parent vessel flow. This local differentiation of structural quality enables selective control of flow at different locations.
Data Source
AI summary
A braided aneurysm treatment device that includes a tubular braid. The tubular braid includes an open end, a pinched end, and a predetermined shape. In the predetermined shape the tubular braid includes a first segment extending from the open end to a first inversion, a second segment extending from the first inversion to a second inversion, and a third segment surrounded by the second segment and extending from the second inversion to the pinched end. The strands of the tubular braid include a smaller diameter at the first inversion compared to a strand diameter of the first segment and a strand diameter of the second segment to facilitate folding of the tubular braid at the first inversion when the braid is implanted.