Damping Bag Balloon Aortic Pressure Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional aortic counterpulsation techniques face challenges in synchronizing gas entry into the balloon with the patient's cardiac cycle, especially in acute phases of circulatory shock or complex arrhythmias, leading to reduced effectiveness and potential risks due to mechanical stress on the artery wall.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with a damping bag system that maintains medical gas at a compliance pressure between systolic and diastolic pressures, ensuring the balloon's pressure is dynamically balanced with the aortic pressure, allowing for automatic adjustment to heart rate variations and minimizing mechanical stress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional aortic counterpulsation uses predictive pump activation based on previous cardiac pulsation, then the device can operate with simple timing control, but the synchronization with current cardiac action becomes inaccurate especially in acute phase circulatory shock or arrhythmias
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a compliance bag as an intermediary element between the gas cylinder and the balloon. The compliance bag maintains a predetermined compliance pressure that acts as a mediator, allowing the balloon to inflate and deflate in response to aortic pressure changes without requiring complex predictive timing control. This intermediary system automatically adapts to varying heart rates and cardiac conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The compliance bag system is designed to automatically maintain the compliance pressure within the predetermined range without requiring active control intervention. The system self-regulates by allowing the compliance bag to expand and contract based on gas flow, automatically adapting to the patient's current cardiac state without needing complex sensing and predictive algorithms.
2Productivity
If the balloon is inflated and deflated rapidly to match cardiac cycle, then the counterpulsation effectiveness is improved, but the mechanical stress on the artery wall increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the pressure parameter by maintaining it within a predetermined range (between diastolic and systolic pressure) rather than using high-pressure rapid inflation. The compliance bag maintains this optimized pressure level, allowing the balloon to respond to cardiac cycle changes while limiting the maximum pressure exerted on the aortic wall, thus reducing mechanical stress while maintaining counterpulsation effectiveness.
3Reliability
If the pump activation timing is adjusted to match variable heart rates, then the synchronization with cardiac action is improved, but the response time and execution speed of the device is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The compliance bag system automatically adapts to varying heart rates through passive mechanical response. As the heart rate varies, the aortic pressure changes accordingly, and the compliance bag automatically adjusts its expansion and contraction timing to match these pressure changes. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for active sensing and predictive timing calculations, maintaining fast response speed while achieving accurate synchronization.
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
This solution ensures improved bio-mechanical matching between the ventricle and aorta, enhancing energy transfer efficiency, reducing myocardial stress and oxygen consumption, and maintaining synchronization with the cardiac cycle, even in variable heart rates, while ensuring safety and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
a damping bag (20), preferably but not necessarily limp, for maintaining a compliance pressure (Pc) comprised between a maximum and a minimum pressure value
Implementation Method 2
The balloon is placed into the aorta through a catheter inserted by femoral pathway and is inflated and deflated with helium gas
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for controlling pressure of a medical gas during treatment of a patient includes is a balloon (1) that through a catheter (2) is introducable into an arterial system of the patient, and a damping bag (20), of greater volume than that of the balloon (1), adapted to be loaded with medical gas at a compliance pressure (Pc) and placed in direct fluid communication with the balloon (1). The damping bag (20) is kept in direct fluid communication with the balloon (1) for the entire duration of the treatment of the patient. The apparatus further includes fine adjusting means (30) for acting on the damping container in such a way that the compliance pressure (Pc) is maintained between the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure of the patient when the balloon is introduced into the arterial system of the patient and during the treatment of the patient.