Implantable Filter Spacer Member Orientation Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implantable vascular filters can tilt relative to the vessel, leading to leakage and embedding issues due to endothelialisation, making retrieval difficult, and existing stabilisation devices often become embedded or entangled.
Innovation Solution
An implantable medical device with a spacer member having a deployed radius less than the filter legs, allowing tilt up to the maximum allowed angle while preventing vessel wall contact and reducing material usage and entanglement risk, formed of curved wire elements that can be easily removed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If filter stabilisation devices are incorporated to keep the filter precisely aligned, then orientation stability is improved, but the stabilisation devices become embedded in the vessel wall by endothelialisation making removal difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The filter assembly is divided into distinct functional segments: the filter body, the coupling member, and the spacer member. This segmentation allows the spacer member to perform the stabilisation function while the coupling member remains separate and accessible for retrieval operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer member acts as an intermediary element between the filter body and the vessel wall. It provides the necessary spacing and stability while preventing direct contact between the coupling member and the vessel wall, thereby avoiding endothelialisation of the retrieval component.
2Stability of the object's composition
If long lengths of wire or thread are used in stabilisation devices, then filter alignment is improved, but the wires become entangled with the legs of the filter leading to improper deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The problematic long wires or threads are completely removed from the design. Instead, a compact spacer member with deployed radius less than the maximum radius of the filter legs is used, eliminating the entanglement issue while maintaining alignment stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer member is constructed from flexible material that can be compressed during delivery and automatically expands to its functional shape after deployment, providing stability without requiring long wires or complex deployment mechanisms.
3Ease of operation
If the filter is allowed to tilt relative to the vessel, then ease of deployment is improved, but coupling to the vessel wall is lost leading to leakage and embedding issues
Solution Approach 1:
The spacer member introduces a radial dimension to the design, creating a controlled distance between the filter assembly and the vessel wall. This radial spacing allows the filter to maintain its longitudinal alignment while accommodating natural vessel movements and preventing excessive tilt.
Data Source
AI summary
An implantable medical device such as a filter has a generally conical shape formed by a set of filter legs extending from a free distal end to an apex of the assembly and specifically to a coupling device. A retrieval element such as a hook extends from the hub of. A spacer member is disposed at the hub and is formed of a plurality of curved wire elements. The spacer member has a radius or width smaller than the greatest radius of the filter device, defined by the free ends of the filter legs. The spacer member allows the filter assembly to tilt within a vessel but limits the tilt to a maximum desired or permitted tilt, ensuring that the retrieval device remains spaced from the vessel wall and therefore not subject to tissue ingrowth.