Catheter Distal Tip Slit Coating Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional catheters with metallic distal end tips face issues of being easily caught on lesions due to surface unevenness when a slit is provided, which affects their ability to bend and navigate through hard lesions and tortuous blood vessels.
Innovation Solution
A catheter design featuring a tubular metallic distal end tip with a slit that allows for easy bending, covered with an outer coating that enters the slit for anchoring, and optionally an inner coating to enhance fixation and prevent catching on lesions or guide wires, along with a reinforcing structure such as a braid or coil body for improved connection strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a slit is provided on the metallic distal end tip to enable easy bending, then the catheter can navigate tortuous blood vessels, but surface unevenness occurs causing the distal end tip to be easily caught on lesions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing coating only on specific areas where needed - the outer coating is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the distal end tip to smooth the external surface, while inner coating is applied to the inner peripheral surface. This localized coating approach maintains the bending capability from the slit while eliminating surface unevenness only where it causes problems (on the external surface that contacts lesions).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by combining the metallic distal end tip material with coating materials (outer coating and/or inner coating). The coating materials have different properties from the metal - they provide smoothness and lesion-resistant surfaces while the metal provides structural strength and bending capability. This composite structure resolves the contradiction between metal hardness and surface smoothness.
2Reliability
If outer coating enters the slit for anchoring, then the coating is firmly fixed to maintain smooth surface, but the coating structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the coating into distinct functional parts: outer coating for external smoothness and lesion protection, inner coating for internal smoothness and guide wire protection, and utilizes the slit itself as an anchoring structure. The coating is applied in a segmented manner where the outer coating specifically enters and anchors into the slit region, creating a interlocking structure that enhances fixation without requiring additional complex components.
Solution Approach 2:
The slit in the distal end tip serves a dual function: it enables bending capability and simultaneously provides an anchoring structure for the outer coating. The coating material, when applied, naturally enters the slit and anchors itself without requiring separate anchoring mechanisms or additional steps. The structure is self-anchoring through the inherent geometry of the slit.
3Reliability
If both outer and inner coating are provided, then fixation strength and smooth surface are enhanced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing coating only on specific areas where needed - the outer coating is applied to the outer peripheral surface to smooth the external surface, while inner coating is applied to the inner peripheral surface. This localized coating approach maintains the bending capability from the slit while eliminating surface unevenness only where it causes problems (on the external surface that contacts lesions).
Solution Approach 2:
The coating structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: the outer coating provides lesion protection and external smoothness, the inner coating provides guide wire protection and internal smoothness, and both coatings work together with the slit anchoring to provide firm fixation. This multi-functionality justifies the additional manufacturing steps by delivering comprehensive protection in a single integrated design.
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 catheter achieves easy bending and reduced risk of being caught on lesions, maintaining a smooth surface for effective navigation through hard lesions and preventing guide wire entanglement, while enhancing connection strength between the distal tip and the tube body.
Implementation Method 1
the outer coating enters the inside of the slit to be firmly fixed to the distal end tip (an anchoring effect)
Implementation Method 2
an outer peripheral surface of the distal end tip is provided with outer coating, which smoothens the surface of the distal end tip and then makes it difficult for the distal end tip to be caught on a lesion
Implementation Method 3
the inner coating can also smoothen the inner peripheral surface of the distal end tip, which also prevents the case in which a medical instrument (a guide wire, for example) passing a lumen of the catheter is caught on the inner peripheral surface of the distal end tip
Implementation Method 4
the outer coating entering the inside of the slit and the inner coating are in close contact with each other. Thus, the outer coating (and the inner coating) can be fixed to the distal end tip more firmly
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2(a)~2(b)
Figure 3
AI summary
In a catheter 1 including a catheter shaft 10 (a tube body) constituted by an inner layer 20a, a braid layer 30a (a reinforcing body) covering the inner layer 20a, and an outer layer 40a covering the braid layer 30a, and a tubular metallic distal end tip 50 provided at the distal end of the catheter shaft 10, a slit 52 is formed on the distal end tip 50. An outer peripheral surface of the distal end tip 50 is provided with outer coating 60a, and the outer coating 60a enters the inside of the slit 52. This allows the metallic distal end tip 50 to bend easily and makes it difficult for the distal end tip 50 to be caught on a lesion, for example.