Expandable Clot Retrieval Structure for Secure Pinching and Retraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in efficiently removing acute blockages such as clots, misplaced devices, and large emboli from blood vessels, particularly in cerebral, coronary, and pulmonary arteries, which can lead to conditions like ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and pulmonary embolism.
Innovation Solution
A clot removal device with an expandable structure and an elongate member, featuring a clot pinching structure or network of interconnected struts, that engages and pinches the clot to facilitate its removal by minimizing compression and maximizing grip, using materials like Nitinol with shape memory properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If existing clot removal technologies are used, then clot removal capability is provided, but the force required for retrieval is high and clot retention during retraction is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable structure transitions from a compressed delivery configuration to an expanded deployed configuration, dynamically changing its diameter and clot engagement characteristics. This dynamic transformation allows the device to maximize grip on the clot during retrieval while minimizing compression forces, thereby reducing the force required for retrieval and maintaining reliable clot retention during retraction through the vascular system
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes its physical parameters (diameter, surface area, structural configuration) by expanding from a small profile during delivery to a large profile during deployment. This parameter change enables the structure to engage the clot effectively with minimal compression, creating a secure grip that reduces retrieval force requirements while maintaining clot retention reliability throughout the procedure
2Length of moving object
If the expandable structure is compressed for delivery, then device deliverability is improved, but clot engagement capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable structure dynamically transforms from a compressed state during delivery to an expanded state during deployment, allowing the device to pass through narrow catheters in a low-profile configuration while then expanding to maximize clot engagement capability at the target site
Solution Approach 2:
The expandable structure is nested within a delivery catheter in a compressed configuration, allowing it to be delivered through the vascular system in a small profile. Once deployed, the structure expands outward from the catheter, transitioning from a nested compact state to a fully engaged expanded state that maximizes clot interaction capability
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 dislodges and retrieves clots with high fibrin content by creating a secure pinch, reducing the force required for retrieval, and maintaining clot retention during retraction, even in complex vascular environments.
Implementation Method 1
using materials like Nitinol with shape memory properties
Data Source
AI summary
A clot removal device for removing clot from a body vessel comprising an expandable structure and an elongate member. The elongate member can have a proximal end and a distal end, the elongate member being connected to the expandable structure at its distal end. The expandable structure can have a constrained delivery configuration, an expanded clot engaging deployed configuration, and an at least partially constrained clot pinching configuration. At least a portion of the expandable structure can be configured to engage clot in the expanded deployed configuration and to pinch clot on movement from the deployed configuration to the clot pinching configuration.