Digital Pelvic Assessment Device for Self-Examination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Many women avoid cervical cancer screenings due to embarrassment, pain, and fear associated with traditional speculum examinations, leading to missed appointments and increased healthcare costs for preventable cervical diseases.
Innovation Solution
A digitally enabled pelvic assessment and diagnosis device that allows users to perform self-examinations privately, using a camera and sensors to capture images and data, which can be reviewed by remote clinicians, reducing the need for invasive procedures and enabling more frequent screenings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional speculum examination is used, then clinical diagnosis can be performed, but patient discomfort and embarrassment increase leading to missed appointments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables patients to perform self-examinations using a digitally enabled device with camera and sensor capabilities. The device allows patients to insert it themselves, capture images and data, and review results privately, eliminating the need for clinician-administered speculum examinations while maintaining diagnostic reliability through digital documentation and remote clinician review.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical speculum examination system with a digitally enabled device that uses cameras, sensors, and digital imaging technology. This substitution transforms the mechanical intrusion of speculum insertion into a digital data collection process, reducing patient discomfort while preserving diagnostic capabilities through electronic documentation.
2Reliability
If traditional speculum examination is used, then cervical assessment can be performed, but fear of pain increases leading to avoided screenings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital copies (images and sensor data) of the cervical area instead of relying on direct visual inspection through the speculum. The camera and sensors capture and store digital representations of cervical conditions, allowing clinicians to review these copies remotely, thereby eliminating the painful insertion experience while preserving assessment accuracy through detailed digital documentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces digital imaging and sensor technology as an intermediary between the examination process and the clinician's assessment. This intermediary captures and transmits cervical information electronically, replacing the direct line-of-sight requirement of traditional speculum exams and eliminating the need for the clinician to physically manipulate the speculum, thereby reducing patient pain and fear.
3Ease of operation
If self-examination device is used, then patient comfort and accessibility improve, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functions into a single device: insertion mechanism, camera capture, sensor data collection, image processing, and result display. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate devices and steps into one unified system, making self-examination accessible while managing complexity through integration rather than multiplication of components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the camera system, sensors, processing unit, and user interface into a single integrated device that can be inserted and operated by the patient. This merging of components reduces the number of separate elements the patient must handle and coordinate, simplifying the self-examination process despite the advanced capabilities embedded within the unified device.
Data Source
AI summary
The embodiments disclose a digitally enabled pelvic self-examination device including a first memory device to receive and store cervix images, a second memory device to receive and store heat detection sensor data, a first processor to convert the heat detection sensor data into superimposed overlays on the first memory device stored cervix images, a second processor to compare current stored cervix images to previously stored cervix images to determine any changes, an internet communication device coupled to a memory device and processor to receive an aggregation of data on disease prevalence and research, a third processor to generate a determination of any changes in the stored cervix images indicating any disease indications present including cervical cancer, a swab device configured to allow the user to collect a cervix tissue laboratory analysis sample, and a digitally enabled pelvic self-examination device configured to be used by user to perform a pelvic self-examination.