Sterile Heart Pump Container With Compression-Gated Opening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mechanical heart pumps require reliable sterility and protection from contamination during transport and implantation, as contact with non-sterile objects can compromise their functionality.
Innovation Solution
A container with a receiving space delimited by closure elements, allowing passage only for a partly compressed heart pump and connected catheter, ensuring sterility and preventing direct contact during handling and implantation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the heart pump is kept in a sterile container during transport and implantation, then sterility and protection from contamination are improved, but the complexity of the packaging system and handling procedures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heart pump is nested within a sterile container that includes multiple compartments: the pump itself in a first receiving space, a catheter in a second receiving space, and a drive shaft in a third receiving space. This nested arrangement maintains sterility while organizing multiple components systematically, reducing handling complexity during implantation.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is pre-configured with all necessary components (heart pump, catheter, drive shaft) in their respective receiving spaces before implantation. The closure elements are pre-positioned to maintain sterility, and the entire assembly is prepared in advance, eliminating the need for complex assembly procedures during the actual implantation process.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the opening in the closure elements is dimensioned to allow only compressed heart pump passage, then contamination risk is reduced, but the difficulty of removing the pump from the container increases
Solution Approach 1:
The heart pump is designed to be dynamically compressible and expandable. During removal from the container, the pump is compressed to fit through the limited opening, and once outside the sterile field, it can be expanded to its functional size. This dynamic property allows the pump to pass through the contamination-barrier opening while maintaining ease of deployment during implantation.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameters of the heart pump (specifically its volume and cross-sectional dimensions) are changed by compressing it before passage through the opening. This parameter change allows the pump to fit through the restricted opening that prevents contamination, while the pump can be returned to its normal expanded state after removal for proper functioning during implantation.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a container for a heart pump device with a first receiving space for a compressible and expandable heart pump, wherein the first receiving space is delimited on several sides, in particular on all sides, by one or more closure elements and is closed off to the outside for preventing a contacting of the heart pump, wherein the closure elements) leave free an opening for the passage of a catheter from the outside into the first receiving space, wherein the diameter of the opening is dimensioned such that the heart pump can pass this exclusively in a condition which is at least partly compressed compared to the expanded condition. For implantation, the heart pump in the container can firstly be operated by trial in the container whilst feeding a rinsing fluid and can then be pulled through the opening amid simultaneous compression, into a sheath element.