Flexible-Shaft Medical Instruments for Tortuous-Path Articulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical instruments face challenges in navigating tortuous paths within the body due to anatomical constraints and equipment limitations, requiring high flexibility, precise control, and articulation capabilities, which are difficult to achieve.
Innovation Solution
A novel medical instrument with a flexible shaft and distal articulating portion, capable of universal articulation, allows for motions such as longitudinal movement, rotational movement, articulation, and actuation of end effectors through a handle, utilizing articulation cables and rotatable elements for precise control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a medical instrument is made highly flexible to navigate tortuous paths, then the ability to reach internal sites is improved, but precise control from the handle end becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is divided into multiple articulated segments that can bend relative to each other. Each segment maintains structural integrity while allowing controlled flexion, enabling the instrument to navigate tortuous paths while preserving control precision through the handle.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument incorporates dynamic articulation mechanisms that allow the shaft to adapt its shape in real-time. The articulated portions can be actively controlled to maintain optimal positioning and orientation, enabling precise control despite the flexible, navigable structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a medical instrument is designed with articulation capabilities to enter visual field from tortuous paths, then access to internal sites is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is segmented into multiple articulated portions, each capable of controlled movement. This segmentation provides the necessary articulation capability to navigate complex paths and enter the visual field, while keeping each individual segment relatively simple in design.
Solution Approach 2:
The articulated shaft structure serves multiple functions: it enables navigation through tortuous paths, maintains positional stability, and allows precise positioning of the end effector. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby managing overall device complexity.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a medical instrument operates through a narrow portal, then minimally-invasive access is achieved, but the range of motions available at the distal end is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument features dynamically controllable articulation at multiple points along the shaft. This dynamic capability allows the distal end to achieve a wide range of motions and orientations despite the constraints of narrow portal access, as the articulated segments can be actively positioned to overcome spatial limitations.
Solution Approach 2:
The articulated shaft introduces additional degrees of freedom by allowing bending and articulation in multiple dimensions. This enables the distal end effector to achieve complex motions and orientations that would otherwise be impossible through a narrow portal, effectively adding dimensional freedom to the constrained access scenario.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus for performing a minimally-invasive procedure, the apparatus comprising: a shaft having a distal end, a proximal end and a longitudinal axis extending between the distal end and the proximal end, wherein the shaft comprises a flexible portion and an articulating portion, wherein the flexible portion extends distally from the handle assembly and the articulating portion extends distally from the flexible portion, and further wherein the articulating portion is configured to articulate relative to the flexible portion; a handle assembly attached to the proximal end of the shaft; and an end effector attached to the distal end of the shaft; wherein a plurality of articulation cables extends from the handle assembly to the articulating portion, such that when tension is applied to at least one of the plurality of articulation cables, the articulating portion bends relative to the flexible portion of the shaft; wherein the plurality of articulation cables are mounted to the handle assembly such that moving the handle assembly to angle the handle assembly relative to the longitudinal axis of the shaft applies tension to at least one of the plurality of articulation cables, whereby to articulate the articulating portion of the shaft relative to the flexible portion of the shaft.