Endoscope Retrieval Pouch for Intact Polyp Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current endoscopic snare cauterization techniques face difficulties in efficiently capturing and retrieving polyps from internal body cavities, often resulting in polyps being lost or masticated, which complicates pathologic evaluation and may lead to unnecessary surgeries due to incomplete removal.
Innovation Solution
A surgical instrument assembly featuring a pouch attached to a flexible loop, which can be used with a separate cutting snare or cauterization snare, allowing for the capture and retrieval of polyps through a combination of mechanical and thermal methods, ensuring the polyp remains intact for analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If forceps are used to capture the polyp, then the polyp can be grasped mechanically, but the forceps tear off the tissue sample from the severed polyp, leaving the main body in the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the snare cauterization loop with a capture pouch to create a single integrated instrument that can both sever and capture the polyp. The pouch is attached to the loop so that when the loop is tightened around the polyp base, the pouch simultaneously envelops the severed polyp, preventing loss without requiring separate forceps manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The snare loop is given multiple functions: it serves both as a cutting instrument (via cauterization) and as a capture mechanism (via the attached pouch). This eliminates the need to switch between different instruments and ensures the polyp remains intact for pathological evaluation.
2Productivity
If suction is used to retrieve the polyp, then the polyp can be drawn out through the endoscope, but the polyp obscures the light source and observation lens, preventing visual inspection
Solution Approach 1:
The pouch acts as an intermediary container that holds the polyp during retrieval. Instead of the polyp directly contacting and obscuring the endoscope lens, it is contained within the pouch which can be positioned away from the optical path, allowing continuous visual inspection during the retrieval process.
3Reliability
If the cauterization loop is used to ensnare the polyp, then the loop can be tightened around the polyp base, but the polyp frequently escapes from the capturing instrumentality and falls away into the colon
Solution Approach 1:
The capture pouch is attached to the cauterization loop to create a combined severing and capturing system. The pouch provides a secure enclosure for the polyp while the loop provides the mechanical tightening force, creating a more reliable capture mechanism without requiring complex separate systems.
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 instrument facilitates the secure capture and retrieval of polyps, maintaining specimen integrity for proper evaluation, reducing trauma and hospitalization time, and minimizing the need for unnecessary surgeries by ensuring complete removal.
Implementation Method 1
an electrical current is conducted through the loop via the wire. Generally, as the loop is closed about the base region of the polyp, electrical current is transmitted through the narrowed organic tissues and thereby generates therein heat sufficiently great to cut and cauterize
Data Source
AI summary
A medical instrument includes an elongate tubular introducer member, an elongate slider member disposed at least partially inside the tubular member, a loop provided at a distal end of the slider member, a pouch connected to the loop so that the loop defines a mouth opening of the pouch and so that the pouch is slidable along at least a proximal portion of the loop, and a tether connected to the pouch at a proximal side thereof. The tether extends into the tubular member and is fastened to the tubular member at a location spaced by a distance from a distal tip of the tubular member. The tether has a length from the fastening location to the pouch that is less than the distance between the location and the tip of the tubular member.