Expandable Brain Cannula Reducing Tissue Trauma
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current minimally invasive brain surgery techniques for hemorrhagic stroke require large cannulas that cause significant trauma to the brain, necessitating the development of a more efficient and less invasive method for accessing and removing blood masses within the brain.
Innovation Solution
An expandable and collapsible brain cannula system that can be inserted in a small diameter configuration and expanded to a larger diameter within the brain, allowing for the passage of surgical tools and subsequent easy removal, made from materials like pseudoelastic nitinol, shape memory nitinol, stainless steel, or resilient polymers, with an elastic sheath to prevent tissue intrusion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a large diameter cannula is used to access and remove blood masses in the brain, then the cannula can accommodate surgical tools and remove blood masses, but it causes significant trauma to the brain tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The cannula transitions from a compressed low-profile configuration during insertion to an expanded configuration at the surgical site. This dynamic transformation allows the cannula to minimize trauma during insertion while providing sufficient diameter for surgical tool passage and blood mass removal at the target location.
Solution Approach 2:
The cannula is inserted in a compressed state within a delivery system, similar to a nested doll structure. Once positioned at the surgical site, the cannula expands from its compressed configuration to provide the necessary working diameter, effectively nesting the functional large-diameter cannula within a small-diameter delivery system.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a small diameter cannula is used to minimize brain trauma, then brain tissue disruption is reduced, but it cannot accommodate surgical tools for blood mass removal
Solution Approach 1:
The cannula's diameter is dynamically adjusted based on location: small during insertion to minimize trauma, and large at the surgical site to accommodate tools. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between minimizing trauma and providing tool passage capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of cannula diameter is changed from a fixed value to a variable that transitions from small to large. This parameter change allows the cannula to satisfy both requirements: minimizing trauma during insertion and accommodating surgical tools at the target site.
3Ease of operation
If a large diameter cannula is inserted directly into the brain, then surgical tools can be passed through it, but it causes significant trauma and requires a larger burr hole
Solution Approach 1:
The cannula insertion process is segmented into two phases: insertion in a compressed low-trauma configuration, followed by expansion at the surgical site. This segmentation allows the cannula to minimize initial trauma while still providing the necessary diameter for surgical tool passage.
Solution Approach 2:
The cannula dynamically changes its diameter from small during insertion to large at the surgical site. This dynamic transformation eliminates the need for a large burr hole while still providing adequate space for surgical tools at the target location.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a cannula is made resilient and expandable to reduce trauma, then insertion trauma is minimized, but the cannula structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The cannula utilizes material parameter changes (resilience and expandability) to achieve trauma reduction. While this introduces some structural complexity, the use of resilient materials with shape memory or elastic properties allows the cannula to transition from compressed to expanded configurations, resolving the trauma versus complexity contradiction.
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 cannula system provides easier access to brain surgical sites with reduced trauma, enabling the use of various surgical tools while minimizing brain tissue disruption and facilitating efficient removal by expanding and collapsing within the brain tissue.
Implementation Method 1
The cannula comprises a tube, braid or coil of resilient material, which is flexible enough to be compacted into a small diameter configuration to fit into an insertion tube, and resilient enough to expand within the brain, gently expanding against surrounding brain tissue, to a large diameter configuration upon release from the insertion tube
Implementation Method 2
The device may be made of pseudoelastic nitinol, shape memory nitinol, stainless steel, spring steel, and resilient polymers (including biodegradable polymers), etc.
Implementation Method 3
The device may be made of pseudoelastic nitinol, shape memory nitinol, stainless steel, spring steel, and resilient polymers (including biodegradable polymers), etc.
Implementation Method 4
The tube may be covered with an elastic sheath, to prevent intrusion of brain tissue into any gaps between filaments of a braid, turns of a coil, or gaps in a laser cut tube
Data Source
AI summary
A method of accessing a target site within the brain of a patient, through the skull of the patient, with an expandable cannula.