Expandable Prosthesis Delivery Device for Vessel Repair
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for repairing damaged body vessels during emergency open surgery are time-consuming and require specialized skills, often leading to temporary shunts that may cause clot formation and subsequent complications, and sutures that can compress vessel tissue, increasing the risk of necrosis and connection failure.
Innovation Solution
A delivery device with elongated members and pivot points allows for the rapid deployment of an expandable prosthesis within a damaged body vessel, using splittable sheaths to expand the prosthesis ends for secure engagement with the vessel walls, reducing the need for sutures and minimizing blood flow disruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional surgical repair methods (suturing) are used to repair damaged body vessels, then the repair can be performed with available tools and techniques, but the process is time-consuming and requires specialized skills, occupying undue physician time during emergency situations
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is designed to be self-securing through its expandable structure that automatically engages with the vessel wall upon deployment, eliminating the need for physician-performed suturing or ligating operations. The device secures itself through mechanical expansion rather than requiring manual tissue approximation and suturing by the physician.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the manual mechanical process of suturing and ligating with a self-expanding mechanical prosthesis that secures itself through controlled expansion. The prosthesis transitions from a compressed delivery state to an expanded secured state through mechanical means, substituting the need for manual surgical techniques with an automated deployment mechanism.
2Reliability
If sutures are used to affix the vessel to the fitting, then the vessel can be secured to the prosthesis, but the sutures compress the vessel tissue increasing the risk of necrosis and connection failure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the suture element from the connection system entirely. Instead of using sutures to attach the vessel to the prosthesis, the design relies on the prosthesis's expandable structure to create a secure fit through expansion, removing the harmful compression effect of sutures from the tissue interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The prosthesis utilizes changes in its physical parameters (from compressed to expanded state) to achieve secure attachment. The expansion of the prosthesis creates radial engagement with the vessel wall through contact pressure, replacing the sutural attachment mechanism with a parameter-driven mechanical engagement that avoids tissue compression.
3Productivity
If temporary shunts are inserted to restore blood flow quickly, then hemostasis can be achieved rapidly, but clots may form requiring return to the operating room within 36 to 48 hours
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is designed and prepared in advance with a compressed configuration that allows for rapid insertion, and its expandable structure is pre-configured to automatically secure itself upon deployment. This preliminary preparation of the device in a delivery-ready state enables both rapid deployment and durable fixation without requiring subsequent surgical intervention for clot removal.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for delivering a prosthesis to a damaged body vessel includes first and second generally elongated members joined to each other along a length thereof. A distal end of each of the elongated members is insertable through an outer layer of skin to access the vessel. The distal ends are cooperatively maneuverable between a closed position for retaining the prosthesis during delivery to the vessel and an open position for releasing the prosthesis upon delivery. Each of the elongated members has a prosthesis retaining member disposed at a distal tip. The retaining members are configured for retaining the prosthesis in a constricted condition when the distal ends are in the closed condition for delivery of the prosthesis to the damaged vessel.