Coupling Wire Guide for Tortuous Vessel Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 0.014 inch floppy wire guides face challenges in navigating tortuous vessels due to conflicting requirements of flexibility and rigidity, leading to complications during procedures like balloon angioplasty, and the navigation of supplemental wire guides is time-consuming and prone to contamination.
Innovation Solution
A coupling wire guide with a distal coupling tip that can be slidably attached to a previously introduced wire guide, featuring a coupling passageway and slot structure allowing 'clipping-on' at any point along the wire guide, providing enhanced support and navigation through tortuous vessels while minimizing contamination risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional 0.014 inch floppy wire guide is used for navigation through tortuous vessels, then flexibility and torque control are improved, but the wire guide lacks sufficient rigidity to pass through lesions and provide adequate support to medical catheter devices
Solution Approach 1:
The wire guide system is divided into two distinct segments: a primary floppy wire guide for navigation and a secondary heavy-duty wire guide for support. Each segment is optimized for its specific function, with the floppy guide providing flexibility and the heavy-duty guide providing rigidity and support, thereby resolving the contradiction between these opposing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The secondary heavy-duty wire guide is nested over the primary floppy wire guide, with the floppy guide positioned within the lumen of the heavy-duty guide. This nested configuration allows both guides to coexist in the same vascular pathway, enabling the system to simultaneously achieve both flexibility and rigidity without requiring separate procedures.
2Strength
If a heavy-duty wire guide is used to provide rigidity and support, then the wire guide can pass through lesions and support medical catheter devices, but the wire guide is too stiff for navigation through tortuous vessels and may cause injury during introduction
Solution Approach 1:
The wire guide system is divided into two distinct segments: a primary floppy wire guide for navigation and a secondary heavy-duty wire guide for support. Each segment is optimized for its specific function, with the floppy guide providing flexibility and the heavy-duty guide providing rigidity and support, thereby resolving the contradiction between these opposing requirements.
3Ease of operation
If a supplemental wire guide is introduced parallel to the primary wire guide to enhance support and straighten vessel curves, then navigation through tortuous vessels is improved, but the process is time-consuming and prone to contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The heavy-duty wire guide is pre-loaded onto the floppy wire guide in a controlled sterile environment before the procedure begins. This preliminary assembly allows the supplemental support structure to be ready for immediate deployment, eliminating the need for time-consuming on-site manipulation and reducing the risk of contamination from repeated sterile field breaches.
Data Source
AI summary
A coupling wire guide structured to be slidably coupled to a previously introduced wire guide. The coupling wire guide generally includes a main body having a distal end and a coupling tip connection to the distal end. The coupling tip includes a coupling portion defining a coupling passageway having a proximal port and a distal port. A slot is formed in the coupling tip and is in communication with the coupling passageway. The slot extends from the proximal port to the distal port, thereby permitting the coupling wire guide to be “clipped-on” to the mid-section of the previously introduced wire guide or any location having the most efficacy.