Flexible Cochlear Catheter with Lateral Holes for Drug Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cochlear implant catheters face challenges in effectively delivering cells or medications to the cochlea due to their large diameter, which increases lymphatic pressure and extravasation, and are often permanent implants requiring electrodes and wires, limiting their use to single therapy sessions.
Innovation Solution
A flexible cochlear implantable catheter with a central lumen, guide grooves, and lateral through holes allows for precise delivery of cells or medications into the cochlea, reducing lymphatic pressure and preventing extravasation, while avoiding the need for electrodes and wires.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the implant catheter includes electrodes and conductive wires for stimulation, then the auditory nerve can be stimulated, but the diameter of the catheter must be increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the stimulation function (electrodes) from the drug delivery function (catheter). The catheter is designed without electrodes, extracting the stimulation capability to a separate implantable device, thereby reducing the catheter diameter to approximately 0.5mm and enabling effective drug delivery to the cochlea
2Reliability
If the catheter diameter is increased to accommodate electrodes and wires, then stimulation function is achieved, but lymphatic pressure increases and extravasation occurs
Solution Approach 1:
By removing electrodes from the catheter design, the catheter diameter is reduced to approximately 0.5mm. This smaller diameter prevents excessive lymphatic pressure and extravasation while drug delivery function is maintained through the central lumen and lateral through holes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the treatment system into separate functional components: a permanent implantable device for stimulation and a temporary catheter for drug delivery. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function without compromising the other
3Duration of action of stationary object
If the catheter is designed as a permanent implant with electrodes, then long-term stimulation is possible, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex electrode and wire components from the catheter, leaving a simple flexible catheter structure for drug delivery. The stimulation function is handled by a separate permanent implantable device, reducing the catheter's structural complexity while maintaining long-term treatment capability
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is designed as a flexible, temporary device that can be implanted and removed as needed, rather than a rigid permanent structure. This dynamic approach allows for single-session therapy without requiring complex permanent implantation infrastructure
Data Source
AI summary
A cochlear implantable catheter and a cell delivery device thereof are provided. The cochlear implantable catheter includes an implantable catheter body, and a proximal end and a leading tip are defined at two opposite ends of the implantable catheter body. A central lumen is formed at a center of the implantable catheter body. An outer surface of the implantable catheter body has at least one guide groove that extends in a longitudinal direction of the implantable catheter body and a plurality of lateral through holes that penetrate from the outer surface of the implantable catheter body to the central lumen. The implantable catheter body is configured to penetrate into a cochlea of an inner ear of a patient, and is bendable along cochlear turns of the patient, such that cells or medications can enter the cochlea of the patient through the central lumen and the lateral through holes.