Bronchoscopic Treatment Catheter With Pulsed Electric Field Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current interventional procedures for treating pulmonary disorders, such as COPD, are not sufficiently controlled, targeted, or user-friendly, often causing unintended tissue damage and inflammatory responses due to uncontrolled thermal ablation and variable wall thickness, leading to incomplete treatment and exacerbations.
Innovation Solution
A grip device and system that allows for a treatment catheter to be advanced through an endoscope's working channel, enabling simultaneous manipulation of both devices with one hand, and an expandable basket-shaped electrode for precise energy delivery with pulsed electric fields to treat airway tissues without significant inflammation, promoting reverse remodeling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If thermal ablation is used to treat airway tissues, then tissue destruction and remodeling are achieved, but unintended tissue damage and inflammatory responses occur due to uncontrolled thermal effects and variable wall thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from thermal energy delivery to pulsed electric field energy delivery, fundamentally changing the physical parameter of energy type. This allows for precise control of energy penetration depth and tissue effect, avoiding the uncontrolled thermal diffusion that causes unintended damage. The pulsed electric fields can be precisely tuned in terms of voltage, pulse duration, and frequency to achieve selective tissue modification without excessive heat generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the thermal/chemical mechanism of tissue ablation with an electrical field-based mechanism. Instead of using heat to denature proteins and destroy tissue, the system uses pulsed electric fields to directly affect cell membranes and intracellular structures, achieving tissue remodeling through electroporation and controlled cell death without the collateral thermal damage.
2Ease of operation
If conventional treatment catheters are manipulated independently of the endoscope, then treatment delivery is possible, but procedural complexity increases and user-friendliness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the treatment catheter handle with the endoscope handle, merging two previously separate control devices into one unified interface. This allows the operator to control both endoscope navigation and treatment catheter deployment from a single handle, reducing the cognitive and physical burden of managing multiple independent devices while maintaining full functionality of both systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated handle serves multiple functions: it controls endoscope positioning, guides treatment catheter advancement, and triggers treatment delivery. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate control mechanisms, simplifying the overall procedural workflow while maintaining the independence and specificity of each function through dedicated control elements on the unified handle.
3Measurement precision
If expandable electrodes are used for treatment, then precise energy delivery to airway walls is achieved, but device complexity and manipulation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamically expandable electrodes that transition from a compact delivery configuration to an expanded treatment configuration. During navigation, the electrodes remain collapsed within the catheter, minimizing profile and ease of advancement. At the treatment site, the electrodes are deployed outward to achieve precise apposition against the airway wall, ensuring accurate energy delivery while maintaining simple manipulation during the navigation phase.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices, systems and methods are provided for treating a variety of conditions, such as with pulsed electric field energy, particularly conditions of the lung anatomy. Such treatment typically involves the use of a treatment catheter with access through an endoscope, such as a bronchoscope. Maneuvering the catheter and the endoscope at the same time involves dexterity and coordination, often beyond the ability of one person to achieve without the help of others. In particular, the user is tasked with gross movement of both the catheter and endoscope in relation to the body while at the same time performing fine movement of the catheter in relation to the endoscope and various mechanisms of the catheter and endoscope themselves. Devices, systems and methods are provided to assist the user in performing such tasks solo. Likewise, devices, systems and methods are provided for improved performance of the treatment devices, such as to flush the devices in vivo to remove mucus and other bodily fluids for improved outcomes.