Deformable Suture Guide for Cardiac Wound Adaptation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical suture instruments are inflexible and unsuitable for various wound shapes and sizes, particularly complicating the suturing process in cardiac and mini-thoracotomy operations, leading to high risks of knotting errors due to complex thread management.
Innovation Solution
A deformable surgical suture guiding instrument with a frame made of plastically deformable materials, featuring raised portions and blocks with identification codes, allowing the frame to be adapted to different wound shapes and sizes, facilitating thread management and knotting by temporarily anchoring suture threads in defined gaps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If rigid battens with fixed shape are used as suture organizers, then the structure provides stable thread anchoring, but the instrument cannot adapt to different wound shapes and sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The frame transitions from a rigid structure to a flexible one capable of deformation. The patent employs a flexible frame that can be deformed to match different wound geometries while maintaining structural integrity through the elastic properties of the material and the supporting role of blocks and protrusions.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state of the frame changes from rigid to flexible by altering the material parameter. The patent specifies using a flexible material with appropriate elastic properties, allowing the frame to change its shape parameter to adapt to various wound configurations while maintaining sufficient structural stability.
2Reliability
If multiple threads are inserted through tissue flaps, then comprehensive suturing coverage is achieved, but thread management becomes complex and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument segments the management of multiple threads by providing dedicated anchoring locations (blocks and protrusions) for each thread end. This segmentation allows individual thread identification and management while maintaining overall suturing coverage, reducing the complexity of handling multiple threads simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The blocks and protrusions act as intermediary elements between the threads and the surgeon's hands. These intermediaries provide fixed anchoring points that simplify thread manipulation, allowing the surgeon to work with anchored thread ends rather than managing loose threads directly.
3Ease of operation
If identification codes are added to blocks and protrusions, then thread identification is simplified, but the instrument structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses visual identification markers (identification codes) on the blocks and protrusions. These markers provide a simple visual distinction between different anchoring locations, enabling easy thread identification without adding mechanical complexity to the instrument structure.
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
The instrument provides a versatile and reliable aid for surgeons, reducing knotting errors and tangling issues, enabling effective suturing in diverse surgical contexts, including mini-thoracotomy operations, by allowing customizable frame deformation to match wound geometry.
Implementation Method 1
at least one portion of the frame, which is associated with the raised portions and with the seats, can be plastically deformed
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An aiding and guiding instrument for surgical sutures, which comprises a frame that can be rested on a patient (A) proximate to a wound to be sutured and/or to flaps of body tissue and/or prosthetic tissue to be mutually fixed; the frame defines, on the other side from the area intended to be placed on the patient (A), a plurality of raised portions (2) which are arranged in series; at least some raised portions (2) are mutually spaced apart in order to define respective seats for accommodating blocks (3); in the gap (4) comprised between each block (3) and each contiguous raised portion (2) it is possible to temporarily stably accommodate a respective portion of a suture thread (B); at least one portion of the frame, associated with the raised portions (2) and with the seats, can be plastically deformed, in order to maintain the shape obtained following a deformation imparted by a user, and consequently be able to freely select the shape of the frame, and of the mutual arrangement of the raised portions (2) and of the blocks (3).