Coiled Spacer Structure for Low-Friction Endovascular Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endovascular devices struggle to navigate through tortuous blood vessels due to lack of support, stiffness, and inability to actively bend, requiring manual manipulation and frequent guidewire replacement.
Innovation Solution
An endovascular device with a selectively bendable portion controlled by a control element, allowing for controllable curvature adjustment to navigate through blood vessels, featuring a tube with openings to reduce stiffness and a control element to transmit bending forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the guidewire is made stiffer to provide support, then it can overcome distal tortuous anatomy better, but it becomes harder to navigate through curved blood vessels and requires more force to bend
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire is divided into multiple segments that can independently bend and flex. This segmentation allows different portions of the wire to have different stiffness characteristics, enabling it to navigate curved vessels while maintaining enough support to overcome tortuous anatomy.
Solution Approach 2:
The guidewire incorporates dynamic elements including expandable balloons and self-anchoring mechanisms that allow the wire to adapt its stiffness and shape in real-time during the procedure. The wire can transition between flexible states for navigation and stiffer states for providing support.
2Ease of operation
If the guidewire is made more flexible to navigate curved blood vessels, then it can pass through tortuous anatomy easier, but it lacks the support needed to overcome distal tortuous anatomy
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire is divided into multiple segments that can independently bend and flex. This segmentation allows different portions of the wire to have different stiffness characteristics, enabling it to navigate curved vessels while maintaining enough support to overcome tortuous anatomy.
Solution Approach 2:
The guidewire incorporates dynamic elements including expandable balloons and self-anchoring mechanisms that allow the wire to adapt its stiffness and shape in real-time during the procedure. The wire can transition between flexible states for navigation and stiffer states for providing support.
3Ease of operation
If manual manipulation of the guidewire is required to achieve proper curvature, then the device can be positioned, but the procedure time increases and practitioner skill is required
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire comes pre-formed with the desired curvature and configuration before insertion. This preliminary shaping eliminates the need for manual manipulation during the procedure, as the wire is already positioned to navigate the target anatomy upon insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The guidewire incorporates self-anchoring mechanisms and self-adjusting features that automatically position and orient the device within the blood vessel without requiring manual manipulation by the practitioner. The wire self-adjusts to the anatomy as it is advanced.
4Manufacturing precision
If the guidewire tip is made sharper for better positioning, then it can reach the target area more accurately, but it increases the risk of vessel injury and hemorrhage
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire tip is designed with a rounded or blunted geometry rather than a sharp point. This curved, rounded tip reduces the risk of vessel injury and hemorrhage while still enabling accurate positioning through controlled bending and flexing of the wire shaft.
Solution Approach 2:
A protective coating or sheath is applied to the guidewire tip to further reduce the risk of vessel injury. This intermediary layer acts as a buffer between the wire and the vessel wall, minimizing trauma while maintaining positioning accuracy.
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
Enhances navigation through curved blood vessels by enabling controlled bending and improved maneuverability, reducing the need for manual manipulation and guidewire replacement.
Implementation Method 1
a spacer disposed within the tube and placed between the tube and the control element, the spacer configured to reduce sliding friction between the tube and the control element
Data Source
AI summary
An endovascular device for navigation of a blood vessel is disclosed. The endovascular device includes a tube with a selectively bendable portion, a control element extending through at least a portion of the tube, wherein movement of the control element relative to the tube is configured to cause the selectively bendable portion of the tube to bend, and a spacer disposed within the tube and placed between the tube and the control element, the spacer comprising at least one wire formed in a coil and configured to reduce sliding friction between the tube and the control element, and wherein the coil has a pitch at least 1.2 times a diameter of the wire.