Guidewire Centering Mechanism for Vessel Navigation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Guidewires used in angioplasty procedures often push against vessel walls due to curvature, causing navigational challenges and trauma to healthy tissue, and imaging devices are hindered by this contact, making it difficult to accurately guide the wire through complex vessel structures.
Innovation Solution
A guidewire with a centering mechanism that can be operated to lift the wire away from the vessel walls, using expandable elements like flexible sleeves or balloons to bias the wire towards the center, allowing for improved navigation and imaging without occluding blood flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the guidewire is inserted into a curved vessel, then the guidewire can reach the treatment site, but the guidewire pushes against the vessel wall causing tissue trauma and navigational challenges
Solution Approach 1:
The guidewire incorporates an expandable centering mechanism that can dynamically adjust its state between compressed and expanded configurations. When expanded, the mechanism actively pushes against the vessel wall to counteract curvilinear forces, maintaining the guidewire in a centered position and preventing tissue trauma while improving navigational control
Solution Approach 2:
The centering mechanism applies a preliminary counteracting force against the vessel wall before the guidewire is fully advanced into curved segments. This preemptive action prevents the guidewire from being pushed against the vessel wall by curvilinear forces, thereby avoiding tissue trauma and facilitating smoother navigation
2Ease of operation
If the guidewire is pushed against the vessel wall to maintain position, then navigation through curves is possible, but imaging devices cannot function properly due to contact with the wall
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable centering mechanism dynamically positions the guidewire in a centered, floating configuration within the vessel lumen. This dynamic positioning ensures that imaging devices mounted on the guidewire remain away from the vessel wall, allowing proper ultrasound imaging function while maintaining guidewire stability and navigational control
3Productivity
If the catheter is pushed over the guidewire in a curved vessel, then the catheter can reach the treatment site, but the catheter scrapes against the vessel wall causing tissue damage
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable centering mechanism on the guidewire dynamically maintains a centered configuration that creates a protective buffer between the catheter and the vessel wall. As the catheter advances over the guidewire through curved segments, the centering mechanism prevents the catheter from scraping against the vessel wall, thereby protecting tissue while enabling efficient procedural progress
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 centering mechanism enhances the precision and safety of angioplasty procedures by minimizing tissue trauma, improving visibility for imaging, and enabling access to previously inaccessible sites with complex vessel geometries.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible sleeve that bows outward from an axis of the guidewire when compressed in a direction parallel to the axis
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a guidewire with a centering mechanism. The mechanism lifts the guidewire from a vessel wall and biases it towards the center of the vessel. Since the guidewire can be selectively lifted away from the vessel wall, scraping the catheter against the wall can be avoided, the tip can be guided into the correct branch of a bifurcation, and an imaging device can be used to its full potential. In certain aspects, the invention provides a guidewire with an elongated shaft with a proximal portion and a distal portion comprising a distal tip. One or more centering mechanism can be provided on a guidewire.