Clot Retrieval Device with Inverting Cover for Vessel Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical procedures for removing clot material from blood vessels face challenges such as dislodging fragments that can cause further obstruction, trauma to vessel walls, and incomplete clot removal due to the size and rigidity of existing devices, particularly in tortuous anatomy and bifurcations.
Innovation Solution
A clot retrieving device with an elongated shaft and a retrieval assembly featuring a flexible cover and capture structure that expands within the vessel to engage the clot, allowing the cover to invert and ensheath the capture structure, facilitating safe and complete removal of clot material without causing further trauma.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a stent is used to push the clot to the side of the vessel, then blood flow is re-established, but the stent may not sufficiently retain the clot and fragments may dislodge causing further obstruction
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs a nested structure where the capture structure (stent) is placed inside the delivery catheter, and the clot is captured within the expanded stent framework. The stent itself acts as a containment structure that nests the clot material, preventing fragmentation and dislodgement during retrieval through the vasculature.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent is constructed as a flexible, expandable framework that can conform to the vessel wall while maintaining structural integrity. This flexibility allows the stent to adapt to tortuous anatomy and bifurcations while retaining the clot, and the thin-film structure enables passage through narrow vessel segments without causing trauma.
2Ease of operation
If an expanded stent is dragged through the vasculature to remove the clot, then the clot is mobilized, but trauma is caused to the vessel walls and cellular lining may be stripped
Solution Approach 1:
The stent transitions from a compressed low-profile state during delivery to an expanded high-strength state during clot engagement and retrieval. This dynamic transformation allows the device to navigate tortuous anatomy in a compact form, then expand to securely capture and mobilize the clot with minimal vessel wall trauma.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent framework is segmented into multiple struts and cells that can independently conform to the vessel wall geometry. This segmentation allows the structure to adapt to bifurcations and tortuous anatomy, distributing forces evenly along the vessel wall rather than concentrating stress at single points, thereby reducing trauma during clot mobilization.
3Reliability
If the stent is oversized compared to the vessel, then the clot can be effectively retained, but the stent becomes lodged on plaque on the vessel walls causing further vascular damage
Solution Approach 1:
The stent's key parameter is its radial dimension, which changes from a small compressed diameter during delivery to a larger expanded diameter during clot retention. This parameter change allows the stent to pass through narrow segments and tortuous anatomy in a low-profile state, then expand to a larger size that provides sufficient clot retention capability without becoming permanently lodged on plaque.
Data Source
AI summary
Devices for removing clot material from a blood vessel lumen and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. A clot retrieving device may include, for example, an elongated shaft, a capture structure, a cover, and a connector coupled to the distal zone of elongated shaft. The connector may include an inner band and an outer band. The inner band may at least partially surround the distal zone of the elongated shaft and a portion of the proximal region of the capture structure, and the outer band may at least partially surround the inner band. In some embodiments, the first end portion of the cover may be secured between the inner band and the outer band.