Expandable Imaging Hood for Clear Heart Tissue Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical devices for accessing and visualizing tissue within the heart are limited by the need for inflation, which displaces surrounding tissue, creates cramped imaging areas, and is susceptible to pressure changes, making it difficult to obtain clear images through opaque media like blood, and they lack real-time imaging capabilities for therapeutic procedures.
Innovation Solution
A tissue imaging and manipulation apparatus with an expandable imaging hood that can be deployed to displace blood with a transparent fluid, allowing for real-time visualization and treatment of tissue regions within the heart, using a deployment catheter with a fluid delivery lumen and optical imaging fibers, and articulatable mechanisms for precise positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If an inflatable balloon is used for imaging, then the imaging area is created, but the balloon displaces surrounding tissue and creates cramped imaging areas
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system is divided into separate components: a catheter for delivery, an expandable hood for creating the imaging chamber, and imaging elements positioned within the hood. This segmentation allows the imaging area to be created without requiring the entire balloon structure to displace tissue, as only the localized hood expansion is needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging hood is nested within the catheter during delivery, and the imaging elements are nested within the hood structure. This nested configuration allows for compact delivery while enabling expansion of the imaging area at the target site without requiring the entire system to be inflated to large sizes.
2Area of stationary object
If an inflatable balloon is used for imaging, then the imaging chamber is created, but the balloon is susceptible to pressure changes during heart cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging hood is designed to be expandable and adaptable to dynamic conditions within the heart. The hood can be inflated to create the imaging chamber and can accommodate pressure changes during systolic and diastolic cycles, maintaining reliable positioning through its flexible, dynamic structure rather than rigid fixation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes changes in inflation parameters to create and maintain the imaging chamber. By controlling the inflation pressure and volume of the hood, the system can adapt to varying heart pressures while maintaining a stable imaging environment, transforming the challenge of pressure changes into a controllable parameter.
3Loss of information
If conventional imaging modalities are used, then images can be obtained, but real-time imaging for therapeutic procedures is not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges diagnostic imaging capabilities with therapeutic delivery capabilities into a single integrated platform. The catheter system can perform imaging to identify tissue quality and then immediately deliver therapeutic agents to the same target site, eliminating the time loss associated with transitioning between separate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter system is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as an imaging device for real-time visualization of tissue quality and as a delivery device for therapeutic agents. This universal design allows the same system to perform both diagnostic and therapeutic functions, providing real-time guidance throughout the entire procedure.
4Loss of information
If imaging is performed through opaque media like blood, then in vivo imaging is attempted, but clear images cannot be obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts or removes the interfering opaque media (blood) from the imaging field by creating a localized imaging chamber within the hood that can be filled with clear fluid or maintained as a blood-free zone, allowing optical imaging elements to capture clear images of the underlying tissue without blood interference.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging hood acts as an intermediary structure between the imaging elements and the target tissue. It creates a controlled environment that mediates the interaction between light and tissue by excluding opaque blood from the imaging path while maintaining proximity to the tissue surface, enabling clear optical imaging.
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
Enables clear, real-time imaging and treatment of heart tissue regions through opaque media like blood, providing accurate visualization and therapeutic access without displacing surrounding tissue, and maintaining stability during dynamic heart movements.
Implementation Method 1
deployment catheter with a fluid delivery lumen and optical imaging fibers
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprises steering a deployment catheter to locate a distal end of the deployment catheter at a position within a patient anatomy. The method further includes articulating a delivery catheter extending through and from the distal end of the deployment catheter while the distal end of the deployment remains at the position and deploying an instrument through the delivery catheter.