Funnel-Expanding Aspiration Catheter Tip for Tortuous Vessels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional clot retrieval catheters face challenges in navigating tortuous vessels, are inefficient at removing clots due to fixed tip sizes, and struggle with aspiration efficiency, often leading to clot lodging and reduced success rates in procedures like acute ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction.
Innovation Solution
An invertible, expansile catheter with a distal tip section that transitions from a collapsed, low-profile configuration to an open funnel-like shape for enhanced aspiration and retrieval, featuring a mushroom-shaped design with sealing members to secure the clot and reduce shear, allowing navigation through complex vasculature.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the catheter tip is made small in diameter to navigate tortuous vessels, then deliverability is improved, but aspiration efficiency deteriorates because the fixed tip size cannot effectively direct suction to remove blood and thrombus material
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter tip is designed to be dynamically changeable between a collapsed low-profile configuration for navigation and an expanded funnel-like configuration for aspiration. The tip can be inverted from a first configuration (collapsed) to a second configuration (expanded), allowing it to adapt its size and shape based on the operational phase - navigation versus clot retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter is divided into distinct functional sections: a flexible shaft for navigation, an invertible tip section for aspiration, and a mouth for clot reception. The tip section can be separated from the main body and inverted independently, allowing the aspiration function to be activated only when needed while maintaining a small profile during delivery.
2Productivity
If the catheter tip is expanded to a larger size for effective clot retrieval, then aspiration efficiency is improved, but the catheter becomes difficult to deliver through small tortuous vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The tip configuration is made dynamic through inversion capability. During delivery, the tip remains in a collapsed first configuration that is small and flexible. Upon reaching the target clot, the tip is inverted to the expanded second configuration, allowing it to effectively capture and aspirate clots of various sizes without compromising deliverability.
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsed tip section is designed to nest within the catheter body or guide catheter during delivery, minimizing the overall profile. When inversion is required, the tip section can be pulled free from the nested position and expanded to its full funnel-like configuration, effectively utilizing space only when needed.
3Device complexity
If a fixed-mouth catheter is used for aspiration, then the structure is simple, but clot removal effectiveness deteriorates because aspiration flow is not efficiently directed to the clot
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter transforms from a static fixed-mouth design to a dynamic invertible tip design. The tip can be inverted to create a funnel-like configuration that directs aspiration flow specifically toward the clot, significantly improving clot removal effectiveness while maintaining relative structural simplicity through the use of a single inversion mechanism.
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 catheter provides improved deliverability, aspiration efficiency, and reduces clot shear, enhancing the success rate of clot removal by ensuring effective retrieval and minimizing vessel damage.
Implementation Method 1
retracting the distal tip section causes the distal tip section to invert about the transition from the first to the second configuration
Implementation Method 2
The suction must be strong enough such that any fragmentation that may occur as a result of aspiration or the use of a mechanical thrombectomy device can be held stationary
Data Source
AI summary
A catheter including a distal tip section disposed on or adjacent the distal end of the catheter, the distal tip section being invertible about a transition between a catheter body and the distal tip section between a first configuration and a second configuration. Retracting the distal tip section causes the distal tip section to invert about the transition from the first to the second configuration, the second configuration comprising an expansile tip with an open funnel-like distal mouth comprising a larger diameter than a diameter of the transition.