Catheter Support Insert Structure to Prevent Kinking During Blood Draw
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blood draw devices face issues with catheter bending, kinking, and deformation during deployment, particularly when the catheter encounters curved regions of a vascular access device, leading to potential buckling and collapse.
Innovation Solution
A blood draw device with an introducer featuring a housing and an advancement member, equipped with catheter support inserts having flexible hinges that transition from an extended to a compressed state, providing support to the catheter and minimizing bending and kinking by shortening the unsupported length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the catheter is advanced into the curved region of the PIVC, then the catheter can be inserted into the patient's vasculature, but the catheter is subject to column load causing bending, kinking, and deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter support insert divides the catheter into supported segments, with the first support surface supporting a first portion and the second support surface supporting a second portion. This segmentation prevents the catheter from bending as a single unsupported element, resolving the contradiction between enabling insertion and maintaining shape stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter support insert acts as an intermediary structure between the catheter and the housing walls. It provides mechanical support to the catheter during advancement through curved regions, preventing direct contact between the catheter and housing walls that would cause kinking and deformation.
2Speed
If additional force is applied to the catheter by further movement of the advancement member, then the catheter can be advanced further, but the catheter can double back on itself and collapse
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter support insert is positioned in advance within the housing to provide support before the catheter reaches critical curved regions. This preliminary support prevents the catheter from collapsing under additional advancing force, maintaining structural integrity while enabling continued advancement.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter support insert provides beforehand cushioning support to the catheter during advancement. By supporting the catheter before it encounters high-stress curved regions, the insert prevents buckling and collapse that would otherwise occur when additional force is applied for faster advancement.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the catheter is allowed to move in random directions creating a sinusoidal wave, then the catheter can navigate the curved region, but the catheter flattens against the sidewall of the housing causing buckling
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter support insert provides localized quality support at specific critical regions within the housing. The first and second support surfaces are positioned to support the catheter at specific locations, maintaining necessary flexibility for navigation while preventing buckling at supported points through targeted local support.
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 effectively prevents catheter buckling and kinking by distributing the force across multiple support inserts, enhancing the catheter's resistance to deformation and ensuring smooth advancement into the vascular access device.
Implementation Method 1
the hinge member being flexible so as to vary a distance between the first end disc and the second end disc
Data Source
AI summary
A blood draw device for advancing a catheter into an indwelling catheter includes an introducer having a housing, an advancement member movable relative to the housing to move the catheter between a first position where the catheter is disposed within the introducer, and a second position where a distal end portion of the catheter is disposed beyond the distal end portion of the introducer. One or more catheter support inserts are positioned between the advancement member and the distal end portion of the housing, with each of the catheter support inserts defining a passageway therein that receives the catheter to provide support thereto. Each catheter support insert includes first and second end discs having an opening through which the catheter is routed and a flexible hinge member disposed between the first and second end discs and flexes so as to vary a distance between the first and second end discs.