Catheter Strain Relief and Flexible Stylet Tip Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Catheters used in medical procedures often experience kinking and pinching due to angular constraints, leading to reduced fluid flow and potential tissue irritation, and stiff stylets can cause damage to medical devices or patients.
Innovation Solution
The development of a fluid delivery system with a strain relief member that increases the stiffness of the catheter to prevent kinking and a stylet with a flexible tip to reduce damage, featuring a strain relief component that maintains a bend radius above a critical radius and a stylet with a compliant tip to prevent injury.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a strain relief component is added to eliminate catheter pinching or kinking, then catheter reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into distinct segments with different stiffness characteristics. A flexible tip portion is separated from the main catheter body, allowing the tip to bend and conform to anatomical structures while the main body maintains structural integrity and resists kinking. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing both flexibility where needed and rigidity where required, improving reliability without adding complex external components.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the catheter are given different mechanical properties. The tip region is made highly flexible to prevent tissue damage and allow navigation, while the proximal portion maintains higher stiffness to prevent kinking and maintain fluid flow. This local differentiation of material properties addresses the contradiction by optimizing each region's characteristics for its specific function.
2Ease of operation
If a stiff stylet is used to push the catheter into position, then ease of operation is improved, but object-affected harmful factors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The stylet is designed with a flexible tip portion that differs from the rigid shaft. The flexible tip reduces the risk of tissue damage and device injury during insertion, while the rigid shaft maintains sufficient pushing capability to advance the catheter into position. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between ease of operation and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible tip on the stylet acts as a cushioning element before contact with delicate tissues or devices. This pre-engineered flexibility protects against inadvertent damage during the insertion process, allowing the operator to maintain pushing force without risking tissue injury or device damage.
3Manufacturing precision
If the catheter is constrained to enter the device at a fixed angle, then manufacturing precision is improved, but object-generated harmful factors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter entry region is segmented into a fixed-angle interface portion and a flexible transition portion. The fixed-angle portion ensures precise alignment with the device entrance port during manufacturing and insertion, while the flexible transition portion accommodates angular variations and prevents kinking when the device rotates or moves relative to the catheter axis.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter design incorporates a gradual change in flexibility parameters along its length. Near the entrance port, the catheter has higher flexibility to accommodate angular variations, while maintaining the required entry angle precision. This parameter gradient allows the catheter to adapt to device movement without kinking, while still achieving precise angular alignment during insertion.
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 system effectively reduces kinking and pinching, ensuring consistent fluid flow and minimizing the risk of tissue damage or device injury during medical procedures.
Implementation Method 1
a strain relief member supporting a portion of a length of the catheter at the delivery end, where the strain relief member increases a stiffness of the length to reduce kinking at the length when a force is applied on the catheter that deflects the catheter relative to the medical device
Implementation Method 2
a stylet configured to fit within a lumen of the catheter... where a flexibility of the stylet tip is greater than a remainder of the stylet such that the stylet tip forms a flexible contact interface wherein the flexibility of the stylet contact interface reduces damage to the reservoir or the catheter
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and devices related to fluid delivery catheters and more particularly relates to catheters used to deliver fluid to medical devices and/or position medical devices.