Electrode Instrument Guide Element for Resectoscope Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrode instruments for resectoscopes disrupt the laminar flow of irrigation liquid, leading to turbulent flow and clouded visibility during surgical procedures, and can become wedged with other components during assembly, causing incorrect function or damage.
Innovation Solution
The electrode instrument features two parallel electrode carriers connected by a guide element that extends convexly from the longitudinal axis, allowing for a compact design and relocation outside the inner shaft to minimize flow disturbance and prevent wedging, with guide elements providing stability and easy handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the electrode instrument is arranged inside the inner shaft together with the optical unit, then the instrument can be guided through the body, but the irrigation liquid flow is disturbed causing turbulent flow and clouded visibility
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode instrument is extracted from the inner shaft and guided externally along the longitudinal direction of the resectoscope. This separation removes the electrode instrument from the irrigation liquid flow path, eliminating the disturbance caused by its presence inside the shaft while maintaining its guidability through the body.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode instrument is repositioned from a three-dimensional arrangement inside the shaft to a one-dimensional linear arrangement along the external longitudinal direction. This dimensional change allows the instrument to be guided through the body without occupying space within the shaft that would disturb the irrigation liquid flow.
2Ease of manufacture
If the guide plate has end faces formed perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, then assembly is simple, but components become wedged causing incorrect assembly or damage
Solution Approach 1:
The guide element is designed with a curved guide surface that is convex toward the electrode instrument. This curvature replaces the perpendicular flat end faces, allowing components to glide smoothly past each other during assembly without becoming wedged, while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through the use of a continuously curved surface.
3Measurement precision
If the electrode instrument is designed with thin and long electrodes for pinpoint accuracy, then cutting precision is improved, but the instrument becomes less stable
Solution Approach 1:
The guide element is designed in advance with a curved guide surface that extends along the longitudinal direction. This pre-configured guide surface provides continuous support and alignment for the thin and long electrode during its entire length, preventing buckling or deviation before cutting operations begin, thereby maintaining both precision and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide element acts as an intermediary between the thin electrode and the external environment. Its curved guide surface provides mechanical support and directional guidance to the fragile thin electrode, allowing it to maintain pinpoint cutting precision without requiring excessive thickness that would compromise stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical radiofrequency instruments such as resectoscopes, for example, are used for removing or manipulating body tissue. A particular disadvantage of known instruments has been that the arrangement of an electrode instrument in an inner shaft can influence a flow behavior of an irrigation liquid. The invention makes available an electrode instrument by which the irrigation liquid is not disturbed. This is achieved by the fact that an electrode instrument has two electrode carriers which are arranged parallel to each other and are connected to each other by at least one guide element, and this at least one guide element extends, at least in part, convexly away from a longitudinal axis.