Flow Reduction Hood Systems for Clear Fluid Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional imaging devices for accessing and visualizing tissue regions within body lumens, such as the heart, face challenges due to opaque bodily fluids like blood, which obstruct clear imaging and hinder real-time visualization and therapeutic procedures, especially during dynamic movements like heartbeats, leading to suboptimal diagnosis and therapy.
Innovation Solution
A tissue-imaging apparatus with an expandable imaging hood and fluid delivery system that displaces blood with a clear fluid, allowing for real-time visualization and therapeutic interventions by maintaining a clear field within the hood using a membrane or layer that controls fluid flow and retention, enabling precise imaging and treatment despite blood flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of stationary object
If an inflatable balloon is used to create a working area for imaging, then a contained space is provided for visualization, but the balloon requires large inflation size which displaces surrounding tissue and interferes with fine positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging hood is divided into multiple segments or struts that can be independently controlled. Each strut can be expanded or collapsed separately, allowing the operator to adjust the hood's configuration to achieve both adequate working volume and precise positioning against the tissue surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging hood transitions from a static inflated balloon to a dynamic collapsible structure. The hood can be expanded when needed to provide working space, then collapsed or conformed against the tissue for stable positioning, allowing adaptive adjustment between volume provision and positioning precision.
2Volume of stationary object
If an inflatable balloon is used for imaging, then a contained space is created, but the working area is cramped and limited in size
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging hood utilizes three-dimensional expansion through multiple struts that can be independently adjusted. This allows the hood to create volume in the z-dimension (depth) while maintaining a large two-dimensional imaging area at the distal end, effectively separating volume provision from imaging field area limitation.
3Volume of stationary object
If an inflated balloon is used, then imaging space is provided, but the balloon is susceptible to pressure changes during systolic and diastolic cycles which affects volume and positioning stability
Solution Approach 1:
The design extracts the pressure-sensitivity characteristic from the system by removing the elastic balloon membrane and replacing it with rigid or semi-rigid struts. These struts maintain structural integrity and volume regardless of the pressure changes occurring during cardiac cycles, eliminating the coupling between pressure fluctuations and positioning stability.
4Reliability
If blood is present in the imaging field, then natural physiological conditions are maintained, but clear imaging and real-time visualization are obstructed
Solution Approach 1:
A clear fluid intermediary is introduced between the imaging system and the tissue. This fluid displaces the opaque blood from the imaging field while allowing the tissue to remain in its natural physiological state. The clear fluid acts as a mediator that enables optical transmission for imaging without requiring removal of the tissue or alteration of its physiological condition.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus provides clear, real-time images of tissue regions within body lumens filled with blood, facilitating effective diagnostic and therapeutic procedures by maintaining a stable, blood-free imaging field, even during dynamic conditions, thus improving the accuracy and safety of treatments.
Implementation Method 1
fluid delivery system that displaces blood with a clear fluid, allowing for real-time visualization
Implementation Method 2
maintaining a clear field within the hood using a membrane or layer that controls fluid flow and retention
Data Source
AI summary
Flow reduction hood systems are described which facilitate the visualization of tissue regions through a clear fluid. Such a system may include an imaging hood having one or more layers covering the distal opening and defines one or more apertures which control the infusion and controlled retention of the clearing fluid into the hood. In this manner, the amount of clearing fluid may be limited and the clarity of the imaging of the underlying tissue through the fluid within the hood may be maintained for relatively longer periods of time by inhibiting, delaying, or preventing the infusion of surrounding blood into the viewing field. The aperture size may be controlled to decrease or increase through selective inflation of the membrane or other mechanisms.