Elastic Comb Tool Holders for Angiographic Instruments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endovascular instruments used in invasive radiology, vascular surgery, and cardiology are challenging to handle due to their flexibility and length, often falling or becoming non-sterile, requiring multiple assistants and leading to economic losses and procedural complications.
Innovation Solution
A surgical instrument placement tool comprising a surgical drape with a horizontal pouch member and comb-shaped tool holders made of elastic material, designed to securely hold long, springy instruments without preventing their movement, allowing for single-handed handling and maintaining sterility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If endovascular instruments are placed on a simple table, then they are easily accessible, but they fall or become non-sterile
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical drape is segmented into multiple functional zones: a main body covering the patient, a horizontal pouch member for instrument storage, and vertical tool holders. This segmentation allows instruments to be placed in dedicated sterile compartments rather than on a non-sterile table surface, maintaining sterility while keeping instruments accessible during procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical drape acts as an intermediary sterile barrier between the non-sterile table environment and the sterile instruments. The drape creates a sterile workspace extending from the patient, with the pouch member and tool holders serving as sterile intermediaries that hold instruments without requiring direct contact with non-sterile surfaces.
2Stability of the object's composition
If multiple assistants are used to hold long catheters/wires, then instrument stability is improved, but procedural complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tool holders are designed to self-adjust and automatically secure instruments through their elastic comb-shaped structure. The spring-loaded teeth flex to accommodate instrument insertion and then maintain constant gentle pressure to prevent slipping, providing stable instrument holding without requiring continuous manual adjustment by multiple assistants.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool holders utilize elastic material properties that change under load - the comb-shaped teeth flex and compress to adapt to the inserted instrument's diameter and shape, then maintain optimal holding pressure. This dynamic parameter adjustment allows a single operator to securely hold long, flexible instruments that would otherwise require multiple people.
3Ease of operation
If comb-shaped tool holders with elastic material are used, then single-handed handling is enabled, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The tool holders are constructed from elastic material with a comb-shaped structure that provides flexibility and adaptability. The thin, flexible teeth can be compressed by a single hand to open the gaps for instrument insertion, then automatically spring back to secure the instrument. This flexible design enables easy single-handed operation while the modular comb structure keeps the overall device relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The comb-shaped tool holders feature curved, arc-shaped teeth that naturally conform to the cylindrical shape of endovascular instruments. This curvature allows the elastic teeth to wrap around and gently grip the instrument from multiple angles, providing secure holding with a simple geometric form that is easy to manipulate with one hand.
Data Source
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AI summary
A surgical instrument placement tool (1) for holding tools for angiographic procedures in the fields of invasive radiology, vascular surgery and cardiology, comprising: a surgical drape (10) arranged to cover a patient (2) of average size from at least the groin down to the region of the feet of the patient when the patient is lying with spread legs, and to arrange for a placement surface (13); a pouch member (20), having a generally horizontal, upwardly exposed, bottom surface (27), which pouch member (20) is attached to a foot end (12) of the surgical drape (10) to extend below the spread legs of the patient (2), preferably projecting horizontally beyond the feet of the lying average size patient (2), said pouch member (20) having a vertical wall portion (28) providing a double curvature bottom surface (21) and an edge (22) that provides for exposing a portion of said upwardly exposed bottom surface (27) of the pouch member (20), and, preferably a plurality of tool holders (3031) attached to an upwardly exposed surface of the surgical drape (10) and extending in a direction across a space between the spread legs of the patient (2).