Expandable Docking Station for Transcatheter Valve Seating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Transcatheter heart valves (THVs) are often too small to securely implant in larger native valves or deployment sites, such as an enlarged aorta, leading to challenges in expansion and secure seating, which can result in aortic insufficiency and complications during implantation.
Innovation Solution
The development of expandable docking stations with sealing portions and valve seats that conform to the shape of blood vessels, allowing for secure implantation and distribution of pressure over a larger surface area, enabling the use of smaller transcatheter valves in varying anatomical sizes and shapes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a smaller transcatheter valve is used, then the procedure is less invasive and easier to deliver, but the valve cannot securely implant in larger native valves or deployment sites
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two separate components: a docking station that is implanted first and secured in the deployment site, and a smaller transcatheter valve that is then implanted into the docking station. This segmentation allows the valve to remain small for easy delivery while the docking station provides the secure anchoring in larger native valves.
Solution Approach 2:
The docking station acts as an intermediary component between the delivery system and the native valve. It is first secured in the deployment site within the native valve, then the smaller transcatheter valve is implanted into the docking station. The docking station mediates the connection, enabling secure implantation of a smaller valve in larger anatomical structures.
2Length of moving object
If a smaller transcatheter valve is used, then the catheter size is reduced for less invasive procedure, but the valve cannot sufficiently expand inside the native valve
Solution Approach 1:
The expansion function is segmented between the docking station and the valve. The docking station is expanded first to provide a stable, sufficiently large structure within the native valve. Then the smaller valve is expanded within the docking station, achieving adequate expansion supported by the larger docking station structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a spatial dimension by introducing the docking station as an outer structure that encompasses the valve. The docking station provides the necessary expansion radius and structural support in the radial dimension, while the valve provides function in the internal dimension, allowing the valve to be smaller than it would otherwise need to be.
3Reliability
If a larger docking station is used to accommodate smaller valves, then secure implantation is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The docking station combines multiple functions into a single device: it serves as the deployment site anchor, provides the expansion structure, creates the sealing environment, and acts as the receiving structure for the valve. This merging of functions into one component achieves secure seating without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The docking station is designed as a multi-functional component that can be implanted in various native valves (aortic, pulmonary, etc.) and can accommodate different smaller valve sizes. This universality allows a single docking station design to provide secure implantation across multiple applications, justifying the complexity through broad applicability.
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 expandable docking stations facilitate the secure implantation of transcatheter valves in larger native valves, reducing the risk of aortic insufficiency by distributing pressure effectively and ensuring a stable valve position, even in anatomically challenging environments.
Implementation Method 1
the expandable frame can expand in multiple locations (e.g., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or more) to conform to multiple bulges of the circulatory system and/or can contracts (e.g., is less expanded, has a smaller diameter, etc.) in multiple locations
Implementation Method 2
The sealing portion can be configured to contact an interior surface of the circulatory system (e.g., of a blood vessel, vasculature, aorta, IVC, SVC, heart, native heart valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve, etc.)
Data Source
AI summary
A docking station includes an expandable frame configured to conform to an interior shape of a blood vessel when expanded inside the blood vessel, wherein the frame includes an annular outer wall formed from at least one annular stent segment connected to a plurality of spring elements circumferentially spaced around the at least one annular stent segment.