Endoscopic Marker and Guide Sheath for Bronchial Biopsy Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopic biopsy in lung bronchioles is challenging due to small diameters, leading to inaccurate targeting of treatment tools, and current methods like X-ray radioscopy expose patients to radiation and are invasive.
Innovation Solution
A marker and guide sheath system where a marker with an elastic body and engaging portion is attached to the endoscopic treatment tool, allowing precise control of the treatment tool's tip projection from the guide sheath, using frictional forces and tapered engaging grooves for secure fixation, enabling precise targeting without additional patient burden.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a guide sheath is inserted into the endoscope channel to reach small bronchioles, then the treatment tool can access the target site, but it becomes difficult to repeatedly reach the target site after biopsy due to loss of position reference
Solution Approach 1:
The marker is attached to the treatment tool before insertion into the guide sheath, establishing a known position reference in advance. This preliminary positioning allows the operator to know exactly where the tool tip will be relative to the guide sheath, enabling repeated accurate access to the target site without needing to re-navigate the bronchiole.
Solution Approach 2:
The marker acts as an intermediary element between the treatment tool and the guide sheath. By providing a visible reference point (the marker body) that can be observed during the procedure, it mediates the positioning relationship between the tool and the target site, allowing the operator to accurately reproduce the target position across multiple biopsy attempts.
2Measurement precision
If X-ray radioscopy is used to observe treatment tool tip position, then biopsy accuracy is improved, but the patient is exposed to large amounts of radiation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using X-ray imaging to directly observe the treatment tool tip position, the invention creates a visual copy or surrogate - the marker body - that can be seen with standard endoscopic imaging. This marker copy provides sufficient positioning information without requiring invasive radiation-based imaging, thereby maintaining biopsy accuracy while eliminating radiation exposure.
3Ease of operation
If the treatment tool is advanced without precise positioning reference, then the procedure is simpler, but the treatment tool may miss the target site by several millimeters
Solution Approach 1:
The marker is pre-attached to the treatment tool at a known position, establishing a position reference before the procedure begins. This preliminary setup maintains procedural simplicity while ensuring that when the marker is positioned at the guide sheath tip, the treatment tool tip will be at the correct depth to reach the target site, eliminating the need for complex real-time positioning adjustments.
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 allows for precise positioning of the treatment tool's tip at the target site, reducing the need for invasive radiation exposure and improving biopsy accuracy by securely fixing the marker to the guide sheath, ensuring accurate tissue sampling.
Implementation Method 1
the fixing portion is defined by an inner wall of the insertion hole and fixes the body to be slidable in an axial direction of the endoscopic treatment tool due to frictional force generated between the endoscopic treatment tool and the inner wall of the insertion hole
Data Source
AI summary
A marker to be attached to an endoscopic treatment tool for precisely directing a tip of the treatment tool to a target site with no additional physical burden to the patient is provided. A marker 1 used in an endoscopic treatment tool to be inserted in a guide sheath, the marker including: a body 2; and a tip section 4A for removably fixing the body 2 to a middle section of the endoscopic treatment tool, wherein the distance between the body 2 and a tip of the endoscopic treatment tool can be determined freely.