GI Balloon Check Valve Docking for In-Stomach Volume Adjustment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current gastrointestinal balloon systems face challenges in effectively adjusting balloon volume while the balloon is in the stomach, due to difficulties in accessing and immobilizing the check valve, leading to low success rates and potential side effects like tissue trauma and intolerance.
Innovation Solution
A check valve system with a docking station that allows for the immobilization and simultaneous access to the valve, using a housing with a plunger and attachment mechanism that can be aligned and operated by a grasping tool to open and close the valve, enabling inflation or deflation of the balloon without removing components from the stomach.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the valve is kept stationary in the balloon and accessed via endoscope while in the stomach, then the components remain inside the stomach without removal, but direct access to the valve is extremely difficult and may not be feasible due to the need for pinpoint precision with head-on engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a docking station with a protruding attachment that extends from the valve housing. This attachment protrudes into the balloon cavity, allowing the endoscope to engage with the valve from a different spatial dimension and angle rather than requiring direct head-on engagement. The attachment acts as a docking interface that the endoscope can grasp and manipulate to open or close the valve, thereby solving the accessibility problem while maintaining reliability.
2Ease of operation
If a stretchable inflation tube is used to bring the valve out to the mouth for manual adjustment, then balloon volume can be manually adjusted, but tissue trauma and difficulty finding and grasping the tube occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the critical engagement function from the valve housing itself by adding a protruding attachment that extends into the balloon cavity. This allows the endoscope to grasp and manipulate the valve directly within the stomach without needing to extract the entire valve or use a long stretchable tube that traverses the esophagus. The attachment serves as a localized grasping point that eliminates the need for external tube manipulation, thereby preventing tissue trauma while maintaining ease of operation.
3Ease of operation
If the balloon is immobilized within the stomach to improve ease of engaging the valve, then access to the valve is improved, but the balloon must remain stationary which limits mobility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the valve system into two functional parts: the valve housing that can move with the balloon, and the protruding attachment that remains relatively stationary relative to the balloon cavity. The attachment extends from the housing into the cavity and serves as a fixed engagement point for the endoscope. This segmentation allows the balloon to maintain its mobility while the attachment provides a stable docking interface, resolving the contradiction between immobilization for ease of engagement and mobility for natural balloon function.
Data Source
AI summary
A gastrointestinal balloon system includes a gastrointestinal balloon and a check valve located within the gastrointestinal balloon. The check valve is configured to allow fluid flow into and out of the gastrointestinal balloon. The check valve includes a string coupled to the check valve, the string having a loop on a proximal end and a catheter having a lumen. The lumen is configured to receive a grasping tool. The grasping tool extends out a distal end of the catheter for grabbing the loop to align the catheter with the check valve. Also, a check valve, two-wat valve, and method of using the same in a gastrointestinal balloon.