Endovascular Stapling Clips for Secure Vessel Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endovascular grafting procedures face challenges with radially expandable stents failing to establish secure frictional engagement with blood vessel walls, leading to graft migration or blood leakage, necessitating the development of new attachment devices for secure placement of endoluminal grafts.
Innovation Solution
An endovascular stapling apparatus featuring self-closing clips with a bridge interconnecting opposing legs, deployed using a deployment rod within a catheter, allowing for precise placement and secure attachment to the vessel wall, enabling repeated partial deployment and retraction for optimal positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If radially expandable stents are used to frictionally anchor the graft to the blood vessel wall, then the graft can be held in place, but the stents may fail to establish sound frictional engagement leading to graft migration or endoleak
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the anchoring function into multiple independent clips distributed along the graft rather than relying on a single stent structure. Each clip independently engages the vessel wall, providing redundant anchoring points that reduce the risk of overall anchoring failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the anchoring function from the stent structure itself and implements it through separate, dedicated clips. This separation allows the clips to be optimized specifically for anchoring without the constraints of maintaining stent structural integrity and radial expandability.
2Reliability
If surgical stapling devices are used for endovascular applications, then secure staple attachment can be achieved, but catheter-based delivery presents numerous deployment difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment rod provides dynamic control over clip deployment, allowing the operator to selectively advance or retract individual clips along the delivery catheter. This enables precise positioning and controlled deployment sequences that adapt to anatomical variations and procedural needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The deployment rod acts as an intermediary mechanism between the operator and the clips. It translates operator input into precise clip positioning and deployment actions, solving the challenge of controlling multiple clips through a long catheter shaft.
3Reliability
If multiple clips are deployed simultaneously to ensure secure graft attachment, then anchoring reliability improves, but the ability to adjust positioning and correct deployment errors is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables dynamic, sequential clip deployment rather than simultaneous deployment. The operator can advance the deployment rod to position clips one at a time, deploy them in sequence, and adjust positioning as needed before proceeding to the next clip, providing both reliability and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The deployment rod allows preliminary positioning of clips before final deployment. Clips can be advanced to their target positions, verified for correct placement, and then deployed in a controlled sequence, enabling correction of positioning errors before commitment to final attachment.
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 apparatus ensures secure and permanent placement of endoluminal grafts by allowing for precise delivery and positioning of staples, reducing the risk of graft migration and blood leakage, thereby enhancing the reliability of endovascular grafting procedures.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the clips includes a bridge interconnecting opposing legs. The clips are configured to self-transition from a biased state in which the legs are relatively straight to a natural state in which the legs each form a loop.
Data Source
AI summary
An endovascular stapling apparatus for delivering a staple to a vessel of a patient, including a plurality of clips, a housing, and a rod. Each of the clips includes a bridge and legs that self-transition from a biased state to a natural state in which the legs each form a loop. The housing defines a channel and a window open to the channel. The clips are retained within the channel in the biased state. The rod is slidably disposed within the channel, selectively moves the clips toward and away from the window, and releases the clips from the window.