Funnel Catheter Tip Angled Folding Hoops Clot Ingestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional clot retrieval catheters are limited by small diameters and fixed tip sizes, which hinder navigation through tortuous vessels and are inefficient in removing clots due to compression and shearing, especially with firm, fibrin-rich clots, leading to reduced aspiration efficiency and success rates in procedures like mechanical thrombectomy.
Innovation Solution
The design of a clot retrieval catheter with an expandable support frame that can collapse to a small diameter for delivery and expand to a larger diameter at the target site, featuring a framework of struts and hoops that fold and unfold to accommodate clots, allowing for effective navigation and clot ingestion with minimal resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If the catheter uses a small fixed diameter, then it can navigate tortuous vessels, but it cannot accommodate clots larger than its diameter without compression and shearing
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter tip is designed with an expandable structure that transitions from a compressed delivery configuration to an expanded treatment configuration. The distal hoop segments are configured to expand radially outward, increasing the inner diameter of the tip to accommodate large clots without compression or shearing, while maintaining a small profile during delivery through tortuous vessels.
Solution Approach 2:
The expandable tip structure allows the large-diameter treatment configuration to be nested within the small-diameter delivery configuration. The distal hoop segments are arranged to collapse into a compact form during delivery, then expand to a larger diameter at the treatment site, enabling the catheter to pass through small access vessels and then accommodate large clots.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the catheter uses a large fixed diameter, then it can accommodate large clots, but it requires a larger guide or sheath and larger femoral access hole
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter employs a dynamic expandable tip that maintains a small delivery profile to fit through standard 6F or 7F sheaths and 8F or 9F guides, then expands at the treatment site to a larger diameter capable of accommodating large clots without requiring larger access holes or guides.
Solution Approach 2:
The large-diameter treatment configuration is nested within the small-diameter delivery configuration. The expandable tip allows the catheter to be delivered through standard-sized access vessels and guides, then expand to a larger diameter at the treatment site to accommodate large clots, avoiding the need for larger femoral access holes.
3Device complexity
If the catheter has a fixed tip size, then the structure is simple, but aspiration efficiency is reduced because suction draws from proximal fluid without clot
Solution Approach 1:
The tip structure dynamically changes from a small compressed configuration during delivery to a large expanded configuration at the treatment site. When expanded, the tip creates an efficient aspiration funnel that directs suction through the clot, improving aspiration efficiency by ensuring the suction draws from fluid containing the clot rather than proximal fluid without clot.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the catheter uses a large expandable tip, then it can accept clots with minimal resistance, but it complicates the interaction with and reception of clot during ingestion
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable tip provides a large opening to accept clots with minimal resistance, while the controlled expansion mechanism and funnel shape guide the clot into the catheter lumen, simplifying the ingestion process despite the expanded size.
Data Source
AI summary
The systems and devices disclosed herein are for a clot retrieval catheter that can have a proximal elongate body with a lumen and a distal tip expandable to a diameter larger than the outer sheath through which it is delivered. The distal tip can have a flexible metallic support frame to provide radial scaffolding and the ability for further flexible expansion when ingesting a clot. The support frame can be designed so that the expanding movement is focused in a portion of the circumference through a plurality of support hoops that can collapse for deliverability, but can expand for aspiration. The designs can be sufficiently flexible to navigate tortuous anatomy but recover to maintain the inner diameter of the lumen when displaced in a vessel.