Cuff Electrode Handling Flap for Implant Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cuff electrodes for implantable medical devices face challenges during implantation, including the risk of damaging delicate electrode contacts and the potential for incorrect wrapping around cylindrical tissues, which can render the implantation operation obsolete.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an implantable cuff electrode with an inner handling flap, which includes a coupled end fixed to the outer surface adjacent to the inner edge and a free end separated by a transition line, facilitates easier handling and reduces the risk of damage during implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the cuff electrode is handled directly by the support sheet edges, then the implantation operation can proceed, but the delicate electrode contacts are at risk of damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces handling flaps as intermediary elements that mediate between the surgeon's tools and the delicate electrode contacts. These flaps serve as protective mediators, allowing force application and manipulation without direct contact with the vulnerable electrode contacts, thus resolving the contradiction between reliable electrode integrity and ease of surgical handling
2Reliability
If the cuff electrode is wrapped around the tissue without orientation indicators, then the implantation is simpler, but incorrect wrapping can render the operation obsolete
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs color-coded handling flaps (e.g., different colors for inner and outer flaps) as visual indicators to guide correct orientation during implantation. This color-coding system provides immediate visual feedback to the surgeon, ensuring proper wrapping orientation without adding complex mechanical orientation mechanisms, thus resolving the contradiction between reliable correct orientation and device simplicity
3Ease of operation
If the support sheet is made more robust to facilitate handling, then ease of operation improves, but the risk of damaging electrode contacts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the support sheet into functional zones: robust handling flaps for manipulation and delicate regions with electrode contacts for stimulation. This segmentation allows different parts of the same structure to have different mechanical properties - the flaps can be made more robust for handling while the electrode contact regions remain delicate and protected, resolving the contradiction between handling ease and damage risk
Data Source
AI summary
An implantable cuff electrode and/or optrode adapted to encircle a substantially cylindrical body tissue, and selected among self sizing cuff and a split cylinder cuff, is provided and includesa support sheet rolled about a longitudinal axis to form a cuff electrode/optrode, with an inner handling flap provided that includesa coupled end belonging to a coupled portion which is fixed to a portion of the outer surface of the support sheet which is adjacent to the inner edge, anda free end, opposite the coupled end belonging to a free portion adjacent to the coupled portion and separated therefrom by a transition line, said free portion being loose from the outer surface of the support sheet.