Guide Unit for Flexible Medical Instrument Axial Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current echocardiography procedures require skilled operators to simultaneously manage flexible medical instruments and imaging devices, leading to prolonged procedures and increased exposure to radiation, as they struggle with precise control and image quality, especially in complex interventions.
Innovation Solution
A guide unit for steerable flexible medical instruments, featuring a guide base that defines a reference datum and a movable guide assembly allowing rotation without axial movement, enabling one-handed operation and potential automated control, thus reducing operator input and radiation exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an operator simultaneously manages flexible medical instruments and imaging devices, then comprehensive control is achieved, but procedure time increases and radiation exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide unit is designed to automatically maintain the longitudinal position of the flexible medical instrument through its mechanical structure, eliminating the need for continuous manual adjustment. The guide assembly's ability to selectively inhibit axial movement while allowing rotation creates a self-regulating system that maintains instrument positioning without requiring operator intervention, thereby reducing procedure time while preserving comprehensive control capability
Solution Approach 2:
The guide unit separates the control functions into distinct mechanical components: the guide base provides longitudinal positioning, while the guide assembly enables rotational movement. This segmentation of functions allows the operator to control the instrument more efficiently by delegating positioning tasks to the mechanical guide structure, reducing the cognitive and manual burden during procedures
2Ease of operation
If an operator simultaneously manages flexible medical instruments and imaging devices, then comprehensive control is achieved, but radiation exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide unit's mechanical structure automatically maintains instrument positioning through its constraint mechanism, reducing the need for continuous manual adjustments that would prolong procedure time and increase radiation exposure. The system self-regulates the instrument's longitudinal position while allowing necessary rotational movements
Solution Approach 2:
The guide unit acts as an intermediary mechanical device between the operator and the flexible medical instrument, providing automated positioning assistance that reduces procedure time and radiation exposure while maintaining comprehensive control capability
3Ease of operation
If guide assembly is moveable relative to guide base to allow rotation, then rotational control is improved, but longitudinal position stability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The guide unit segments the movement degrees of freedom: the guide base maintains longitudinal positioning stability while the guide assembly provides rotational control. This functional segmentation allows independent optimization of each movement type without compromising the other
Solution Approach 2:
The guide assembly is designed with dynamic movement capabilities that allow rotation about the instrument axis while maintaining constraint against axial movement. This dynamic design enables selective freedom of movement in specific directions while maintaining stability in others
Data Source
AI summary
In the field of echocardiography there is a need for improved guiding of elongate flexible medical instruments to shorten procedures and thereby reduce the exposure of an interventional cardiologist or cardiac surgeon, and an echocardiographer, to radioactive fluoroscopy.A guide unit (10; 70; 150), for an elongate flexible medical instrument (12) steerable by an operator handle (60), comprises a guide base (14) that is fixedly securable in an operative position to define a reference datum (16) relative to an orifice into which the flexible medical instrument (12) is, in-use, to be inserted. The guide base (14) supports a guide assembly (28) which is engageable, in-use, with the flexible medical instrument (12) to selectively inhibit lengthwise axial movement of the flexible medical instrument (12) relative to the guide base (14). The guide assembly (28) is also moveable relative to the guide base (14) to allow rotation of the flexible medical instrument (12) about its axis (30) while inhibiting said lengthwise axial movement.