Flexible Elongate Member Positioning via Transducer Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopic cannulation procedures, such as ERCP, face challenges in accessing the biliary duct due to difficulties in navigating a guidewire through tortuous anatomies and obscured entry points, leading to prolonged or failed procedures and tissue trauma from multiple access attempts.
Innovation Solution
A medical device with a flexible elongate member equipped with positional controls and transducers that use feedback signals to adjust its configuration and position within a body lumen, guided by a device manager to facilitate safe and accurate access, reducing the need for manual manipulation and minimizing tissue trauma.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple manual access attempts are made to access the biliary duct, then the success rate may improve, but tissue trauma increases and procedural time prolongs
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates transducers that provide real-time feedback on the guidewire's position, orientation, and contact forces within the body lumen. This feedback enables automatic adjustment of the guidewire configuration to achieve precise engagement with the biliary duct entry point, reducing the need for multiple manual attempts and minimizing tissue trauma.
Solution Approach 2:
The device uses its own integrated transducers and positional controls to automatically navigate and position the guidewire without requiring repeated manual manipulation. The system self-adjusts its configuration based on sensor data, enabling single-attempt or limited-attempt cannulation while reducing overall procedural time.
2Reliability
If multiple manual access attempts are made to access the biliary duct, then the success rate may improve, but procedural time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Real-time feedback from transducers enables immediate detection and correction of positioning errors, allowing the guidewire to be automatically adjusted to the correct orientation and position in a single attempt, thereby reducing procedural time while maintaining high success rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical manipulation with an automated system that uses transducers, positional controls, and computational algorithms to navigate and position the guidewire. This substitution eliminates the time-consuming trial-and-error process of manual adjustment while achieving comparable or superior positioning accuracy.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual manipulation is used to navigate the guidewire, then adaptability to anatomical variations is maintained, but precision and control are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses transducers to continuously monitor the guidewire's position, orientation, and interaction with the body lumen wall. This feedback enables precise automatic adjustment of the guidewire configuration to match the specific anatomical variations of each patient, achieving both high precision and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates dynamically adjustable positional controls that can adapt the guidewire's shape and position in real-time based on feedback from transducers. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the system to accommodate anatomical variations while maintaining precise control over the guidewire's final position and orientation.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments are generally directed to positioning techniques to facilitate entry of a flexible elongate member (e.g., endoscopic accessory tool) into and/or through selected anatomies, such as by directing a set of positional controls based on feedback from a set of transducers to achieve or maintain a position within a body lumen, for instance. Some embodiments are particularly directed to a feedback loop for positioning or guiding a flexible elongate member into a target configuration for one or more of inspection, orientation, and/or facilitating access to body passageways. In one embodiment, for example, a device manager may include circuitry to operate at least one positional control in a set of positional controls based on data indicative of a current configuration of a flexible elongate member generated by a set of transducers.