Flexible Drainage Tube Placement Tool for Minimally Invasive Cavity Access

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current body cavity drainage devices often require multiple incisions due to the shape and configuration of the pleural cavity, leading to extended hospital stays for patients with severe pleurisy.

Innovation Solution

A body cavity drainage device placement tool with a shaft and handle, allowing the distal end to be inserted through a lateral opening and central lumen of the drainage tube, facilitating its placement within the body cavity while minimizing tissue damage and enabling flexible positioning of the drainage tube.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If multiple incisions are made to permit the drainage tube to reach various locations in the pleural cavity, then the drainage device can effectively access the body cavity, but the hospital stay is extended

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedrainage tube access capabilityVSAvoidhospital stay duration

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The drainage tube is inserted through a delivery catheter that is introduced through a single incision. The delivery catheter acts as a guiding sheath that allows the drainage tube to navigate through the pleural cavity via a tortuous path, eliminating the need for multiple incisions while maintaining access capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Solution Approach 2:

The drainage tube and delivery catheter are designed with flexible, curved configurations that allow them to conform to the tortuous anatomy of the pleural cavity. This curvature enables the tube to reach various locations within the cavity through a single incision by following the natural contours of the body cavity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #14Spheroidality (Curvature)

2Manufacturing precision

If a rigid placement tool is used to insert the drainage tube, then the tube can be positioned accurately, but tissue damage increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedrainage tube placement precisionVSAvoidtissue damage

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The delivery catheter and drainage tube are constructed from flexible materials that can bend and conform to the body cavity's contours. This flexibility allows the tube to be guided through tortuous paths and positioned accurately without requiring rigid forceful insertion, thereby minimizing tissue trauma while maintaining placement precision.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

Data Source

PatentUS10029036B2Placement tools for body cavity drainage devices and related methods

Publication Date: 2018.07.24 LAZARUS MEDICAL TECH LLC

AI summary

A body cavity drainage device placement tool for placing a body cavity drainage tube at least partially within a body cavity of a patient. The body cavity drainage device includes a shaft, a handle attached to or integral with a proximal end of the shaft, and a distal end of the shaft sized and configured for insertion through a lateral opening of the body cavity drainage tube and at least partially through a central lumen of the body cavity drainage tube to proximate a distal end of the body cavity drainage tube. Methods relate to using a body cavity drainage device placement tool.