Gel-Filled Balloon for Blood Vessel Recess Smoothing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for treating rugged patterns in blood vessels, such as those caused by thrombi or medial calcification, struggle to effectively smooth the vessel wall, leading to stagnation and turbulence, especially when the patterns are extensive or complex, making it difficult to insert catheters and maintain blood flow.
Innovation Solution
A medical elongate body with a gel-filled balloon system that partitions the blood vessel to fill recesses with a gel, using a jet port to inject the gel and restrict inflation, ensuring the gel fills recesses and smooths the vessel wall, regardless of the pattern's extent or complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a catheter with balloon assembly is used to remove plaque, then the plaque can be removed and inside diameter can be secured, but rugged patterns from thrombus or medial calcification cannot be smoothened
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state of the filling material from liquid to gel, which allows the material to adhere to and fill irregular recesses of various sizes and shapes caused by different types of rugged patterns (thrombus, plaque, medial calcification), thereby resolving the limitation of the conventional liquid-based approach
Solution Approach 2:
The gel-filled balloon acts as an intermediary tool that transfers the smoothing effect to the vessel wall. The gel material serves as a mediator between the catheter and the rugged pattern, filling recesses and smoothing the vessel wall surface regardless of the underlying cause
2Reliability
If the extent of projections and recesses in the rugged pattern is large, then more plaque can be removed, but it becomes impossible to insert the catheter
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the treatment process into two independent steps: first, the catheter is inserted to the lesion site; second, the gel-filled balloon is inflated to fill the recesses. This segmentation allows the catheter to access the lesion area even in severe cases, and the gel filling to subsequently address the extensive rugged patterns
3Ease of operation
If the catheter is inserted to treat rugged patterns, then treatment can be performed, but stagnation or turbulence of blood flow occurs in recesses
Solution Approach 1:
The invention converts the harmful effect of gel material remaining in recesses into a beneficial outcome. By filling the recesses with gel, the previously harmful stagnation and turbulence areas are transformed into smooth surfaces that promote laminar blood flow, eliminating the harmful effect rather than merely reducing it
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 method effectively prevents stagnation and turbulence by filling recesses with a gel, normalizing blood flow and preventing thrombus formation, allowing for the smoothing of complex vessel patterns without the need for extensive catheter insertion.
Implementation Method 1
a jet section for jetting a plaque removing agent
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a medical elongate body are configured to prevent stagnation or turbulence of blood flow in a recess of a rugged pattern formed in a blood vessel due to bulging of a blood vessel wall at a lesion part of the blood vessel. The method involves partitioning an inside of the blood vessel into upstream and downstream sides of the recess, and introducing gel into the recess to at least partially fill the recess. A blood vessel lumen forming method and medical elongate body to form such a lumen are other aspects of the disclosure and involve introducing gel into the recess to at least partially fill the recess with the gel, and drilling the gel to remove at least some of the gel to form a passage and secure blood flow in the blood vessel.