Expandable Balloon Catheter for Endoscopic Working Space
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive endoscopic procedures face challenges in creating a stable and optimal working space for endoscopic instruments to effectively maneuver and visualize tissues, particularly in confined body lumens like the gastrointestinal tract, where instrument maneuverability and visualization are limited by the available space.
Innovation Solution
A reversibly-expandable catheter system with an asymmetrically expandable balloon and tool channels that increase the working space by creating a larger, non-cylindrical chamber, allowing for independent manipulation of endoscopic instruments and visualization devices to access tissues more effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If endoscopic instruments are used in confined body lumens, then minimally invasive treatment is achieved, but instrument maneuverability and visualization are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system employs a dynamically expandable balloon that can transition from a compressed delivery state to an expanded working state. This dynamic transformation creates additional working space only when needed, allowing the system to maintain small profile during insertion while providing large working space during the procedure, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and available working space.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a radial dimension to the working space by expanding the balloon outward from the catheter axis. This creates a three-dimensional chamber that extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the catheter, providing additional space for instrument manipulation without increasing the longitudinal profile, thereby improving maneuverability while maintaining compact size.
2Ease of operation
If the working space is expanded to improve instrument maneuverability, then the distance between instrument tips and target tissue increases, but the complexity of the device increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system employs a nested structure where the expandable balloon is integrated within the catheter body, and multiple tool channels are nested within the balloon structure. This nesting approach allows the complex multi-component system to be delivered through a single catheter while maintaining the ability to expand and provide triangulation capability, thus managing device complexity while achieving improved maneuverability.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is divided into distinct functional segments: the delivery catheter, the expandable balloon with tool channels, and the articulated distal portion. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall system by allowing selective deployment of only the working portion, reducing the complexity burden of the full system.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the catheter is made articulating to improve access to target tissue, then the ability to approach tissue from multiple angles is improved, but the device complexity and difficulty of control increase
Solution Approach 1:
The articulation capability is localized to the distal portion of the catheter rather than the entire length. This allows the distal end to be maneuvered independently to achieve various approach trajectories while the proximal portion remains stable and easy to control, thus providing versatility in tissue access without significantly increasing overall control difficulty.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for endoscopic surgery within a body lumen of a patient including a flexible catheter having an expandable balloon at a distal portion and an access opening. The expandable balloon is expandable from a collapsed insertion configuration to an expanded configuration to provide an expanded chamber on a first side of the catheter. The access opening provides a window to access target tissue. The catheter includes a lumen dimensioned to receive an endoscopic instrument therethrough such that a distal end of the endoscopic instrument is positionable within the expanded chamber and angled laterally within the expanded chamber to access the target tissue through the window.