Electrode Lead Suture Anchors with Non-Encircling Suture Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional suture anchors for implantable electrode leads are susceptible to damaging the lead bodies due to sutures being tightened to the point where they slice through, and there is a need for configurations that provide multiple deployment options for surgeons.
Innovation Solution
The electrode lead features a suture anchor with a curved three-dimensional geometric exterior surface and lumens on one side of a central plane, allowing sutures to secure the lead body without encircling it, and includes strain relief with arcuate suture holders to distribute stress, reducing damage and providing various anchoring options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional suture anchors are used to secure the lead body, then the lead body can be anchored to the body structure, but the sutures may slice through the anchors and damage the lead bodies when tightened
Solution Approach 1:
The suture anchor is divided into separate functional components: an anchor body for engagement with the body structure, and distinct suture lumens for suture passage. This segmentation allows the suture to secure the anchor without encircling and damaging the lead body, as the suture lumens provide dedicated pathways that separate the anchoring function from the lead body protection function.
Solution Approach 2:
The suture lumens act as intermediaries between the suture and the lead body. By providing dedicated lumens through the anchor body, the suture can pass through and tighten around the anchor without directly contacting or damaging the lead body, thus mediating the force transmission to protect the lead body from suture-induced damage.
2Ease of manufacture
If the suture anchor configuration is simplified, then manufacturing is easier, but the surgeon has fewer deployment options
Solution Approach 1:
The suture anchor is designed with multiple suture lumens positioned at different locations and orientations on the anchor body. This multi-functionality allows a single anchor design to accommodate various surgical scenarios and anchoring requirements, providing surgeons with multiple deployment options while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through a unified anchor body structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The suture lumens are arranged in three-dimensional space on the anchor body surface, utilizing different spatial dimensions and orientations. This dimensional arrangement provides multiple suture passage routes without increasing the overall anchor footprint or manufacturing complexity, thereby offering surgical versatility while maintaining ease of manufacture.
Data Source
AI summary
An electrode lead including an elongate lead body having a proximal region, a distal region and a plurality of electrical conductors, a plurality of electrically conductive contacts associated with the distal region of the lead body and electrically connected to the electrical conductors, and a suture anchor, on the distal region of the lead body, including an anchor body that defines a curved three-dimensional geometric exterior surface shape and a central axis that is coincident with a plane that passes through the anchor body, a lumen that extends through the anchor body in which a portion of the lead body is located, and at least one suture lumen that is entirely on one side of the plane and that has open ends on the exterior surface.