Endoscopic Catheter Sensor Feedback for Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cannulation procedures face challenges in navigating complex anatomy due to limited feedback, leading to increased trauma risk and multiple attempts, especially when targeting small or tortuous body passageways with difficult angles or blockages.
Innovation Solution
A navigation-assisting catheter system with a flexible elongate member equipped with sensors, such as pressure sensors, optic fibers, or piezoelectric sensors, positioned at the distal end to provide directional feedback and prevent tissue damage by detecting contact with lumen walls, allowing for precise steering and minimization of pressure on the catheter tip.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple cannulation attempts are made to navigate complex anatomy, then the success rate of reaching the target body passageway improves, but the tissue trauma and risk of damage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs sensors (pressure, force, tactile) at the distal end of the catheter to provide real-time feedback about tissue contact and catheter position. This feedback loop allows the operator to adjust the catheter trajectory based on actual tissue interaction, reducing blind probing and multiple attempts, thereby decreasing tissue trauma while maintaining or improving cannulation success rate.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter system performs preliminary navigation and positioning actions using sensor guidance before attempting cannulation. The sensors detect anatomical structures and guide the catheter along the optimal path in advance, allowing the operator to approach the target with precise positioning, reducing the need for multiple corrective attempts that cause tissue damage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the catheter navigates through tortuous anatomy and small openings, then the ability to reach difficult targets improves, but the difficulty of navigation and risk of blockage increase
Solution Approach 1:
Real-time sensor feedback provides continuous information about catheter position, orientation, and contact with anatomical structures. This feedback enables the operator to navigate tortuous passages and small openings with greater confidence and precision, reducing the perceived difficulty and improving adaptability to complex anatomical variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces purely mechanical navigation with a sensor-guided system that uses electronic feedback to assist navigation. Sensors detect anatomical features and provide directional guidance, substituting some mechanical trial-and-error navigation with sensor-based intelligent guidance, thereby easing operational difficulty while maintaining adaptability.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If pressure sensing components are added to the catheter, then the ability to detect tissue contact and prevent trauma improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure sensing components serve multiple functions: detecting tissue contact, determining catheter orientation, guiding navigation, and preventing trauma. By making the sensor system multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate components for each function, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while achieving comprehensive tissue protection and navigation capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines pressure sensing, navigation guidance, and trauma prevention functions into an integrated sensor system at the catheter tip. Rather than adding separate independent systems, the sensing components are merged with the navigation and safety functions, creating a unified system that achieves tissue trauma prevention without proportionally increasing device complexity.
4Measurement precision
If real-time sensor feedback is implemented, then the navigation accuracy and success rate improve, but the loss of time for signal processing and data transmission increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system prioritizes and rapidly processes critical sensor signals related to tissue contact and catheter positioning. By rushing through the processing of essential navigation data and providing immediate feedback on critical parameters, the patent minimizes time loss while maintaining high navigation accuracy. Non-critical data processing can be deferred or simplified.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor system focuses processing resources on local, critical measurement points at the catheter tip where tissue contact and positioning information is most important. Rather than uniformly processing all sensor data with equal detail, the system applies higher measurement precision and faster processing to the most critical local parameters, thereby achieving high navigation accuracy with minimized overall processing time.
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 system enhances the success rate of cannulation procedures by providing real-time directional information, reducing tissue trauma and the number of attempts required, thereby improving navigation accuracy and safety.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one sensor detects impact of the distal end of the flexible elongate member against an object
Implementation Method 2
the at least one sensor includes one of an optic fiber, an inductive sensor, or a piezoelectric sensor
Implementation Method 3
the at least one sensor includes one of an optic fiber, an inductive sensor, or a piezoelectric sensor
Data Source
AI summary
A navigation-assisting flexible elongate member, a navigation-assisting system, and a navigation-assisting method for use in navigating within a body to a treatment site. A navigation-assisting sensor, such as an optic fiber, an inductive sensor, a piezoelectric sensor, or a camera, is provided within the wall of the flexible elongate member, so as not to occupy space within a working channel defined by and through the flexible elongate member. When the distal end of the flexible elongate encounters an obstacle/another object (e.g., body tissue or a lumen wall), the navigation-assisting sensor generates a signal indicative of such encounter. Such signal is converted into information (such as by a control unit) usable to navigate the flexible elongate member away from the obstacle and on course to the treatment site.