Deployable Textile Retractor for Even Tissue Pressure
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional retractors used in spinal surgery create strong pressure points that can kill tissue during long operations due to their rigid structure, leading to inadequate blood supply.
Innovation Solution
A deployable retractor with a double-walled textile that expands to form a channel when filled with fluid, providing even tissue loading and maintaining blood supply, using a fluid chamber system that is dimensionally stable and gentle on tissue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If rigid metallic spreader blades are used to hold tissue apart, then the tissue can be kept open for surgery, but strong pressure points are created that can kill tissue during long operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid metallic spreader blades with a flexible textile retractor that has a collapsible tubular structure. The textile material allows the retractor to conform to tissue contours and distribute pressure evenly across the tissue surface, eliminating the strong pressure points caused by rigid metallic blades while maintaining the ability to hold tissue apart during surgery.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractor transitions from a collapsed low-profile state during insertion to an expanded operational state during surgery. This dynamic transformation allows the device to be easily inserted through a small incision and then deployed to provide stable tissue retraction, adapting its form to different operational phases.
2Volume of moving object
If the textile is folded in to reduce volume, then the retractor can be easily inserted into the tissue opening, but the channel cannot be formed
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor is designed with a collapsible tubular structure that can dynamically transition between a compressed low-volume state for insertion and an expanded state that forms the surgical channel. The textile material and structural design enable this transformation, allowing the device to be inserted in a compact form and then deployed to create the necessary channel shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The tubular textile structure can be collapsed into a compact nested form that fits within the tissue opening during insertion, then expands outward to form the channel. This nesting principle allows the retractor to occupy minimal space during insertion while providing sufficient structural form during operation.
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 retractor effectively protects tissue by evenly distributing pressure and ensuring adequate blood supply, reducing tissue damage during prolonged surgeries.
Implementation Method 1
the fluid interior is filled with the fluid under a working pressure and thus forms the channel
Implementation Method 2
When the textile is then filled with the fluid, it expands and unfolds to form the channel
Data Source
AI summary
A deployable retractor (1) with a folded-in configuration and a folded-out configuration is provided. In the folded-out configuration, the refractor (1) forms a completely encased channel (2), and the casing (3) of the channel (2) includes an at least partly double-walled textile (4) that surrounds a fluid interior (6) which has at least one fluid chamber (5) and can be filled with a fluid via a connection (7) and which is emptied in the folded-in configuration and is filled with the fluid in the folded-out configuration.