Implantable Flow Streamliner for TCPC Blood Distribution
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In patients with congenital heart disease and single ventricle, the current Total Cavo-Pulmonary Connection (TCPC) surgery leads to energy loss and uneven blood distribution due to head-on collision of Superior Vena Cava (SVC) and Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) blood streams, causing turbulence and ventricular workload issues.
Innovation Solution
An implantable Flow Streamliner is designed to split and distribute blood streams from the SVC and IVC without collision, using a configuration that equalizes blood flow velocities and eliminates the need for an offset between the SVC and IVC, ensuring proportional blood distribution to both pulmonary arteries and minimizing energy loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If TCPC surgery is performed to correct congenital heart defect, then mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood is prevented, but head-on collision of SVC and IVC blood streams causes energy loss and turbulence
Solution Approach 1:
A flow streamliner device is introduced as an intermediary component between the SVC and IVC junction and the pulmonary artery. This mediator guides the blood streams to merge smoothly without head-on collision, reducing turbulence and kinetic energy loss while maintaining the therapeutic effect of TCPC surgery.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow streamliner employs curved surfaces and streamlined geometry to guide blood flow. The curved design allows SVC and IVC blood streams to merge gradually along smooth contours, preventing abrupt collisions and reducing turbulence-induced energy loss.
2Reliability
If TCPC surgery is performed to separate oxygenated and deoxygenated blood, then circulation is improved, but uneven blood distribution to lungs occurs due to stream collision
Solution Approach 1:
The flow streamliner acts as a guiding intermediary that distributes SVC and IVC blood streams proportionally to the pulmonary arteries. It ensures uniform blood flow distribution to both lungs by preventing collision-induced turbulence that causes uneven distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow streamliner creates different flow conditions in different regions of the pulmonary artery junction. It locally guides SVC blood to one pulmonary artery and IVC blood to the other, ensuring proportional and uniform distribution throughout the lung vascular network.
3Loss of energy
If offset configuration is used between SVC and IVC to reduce collision, then energy loss is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flow streamliner extracts the flow-guiding function from the complex offset surgical configuration. By introducing a dedicated flow control device, the surgery can use a simpler straight-line anastomosis while still achieving smooth blood flow merging, thus reducing surgical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow streamliner serves as an intermediary component that replaces the need for complex offset configuration. It achieves smooth flow merging through its internal streamlined geometry, simplifying the surgical procedure while maintaining low energy loss.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments herein provide an implantable Flow Streamliner for passively regulating blood streams in a TCPC subject. The implantable Flow Streamliner is configured to split a blood stream from an Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) and a blood stream from a Superior Vena Cava (SVC), without a direct collision between the blood streams. Further, the implantable Flow Streamliner is configured to distribute the blood stream from the IVC containing hepatic nutrients in proportion to a Left Pulmonary Artery (LPA) and a Right Pulmonary Artery (RPA). Further, the implantable Flow Streamliner is configured to distribute the blood stream from the SVC in equal proportion to the LPA and the RPA.