High Frequency Knife Guide Hole Blockage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
The guide hole in high-frequency knives used for incising living body tissues becomes blocked due to burnt tissue sticking to the knife portion, preventing the saline from being jetted to the front of the electrical insulator portion.
Innovation Solution
A high-frequency knife design featuring a sheath with a conduit line and an insulated supporting member, where a tube hole is formed to house a rod-shaped electrode with a larger-diameter portion that includes a guide hole and a distance increasing portion to prevent blockage by burnt tissue, allowing saline to be jetted through.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the high-frequency knife is used to incise tissue by moving it in the transverse direction, then the tissue incision function is achieved, but burnt tissue sticks to the knife portion and accumulates, causing the guide hole to become blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful burnt tissue from the system by providing a groove portion that collects and removes burnt tissue away from the guide hole, preventing blockage while maintaining continuous saline flow through the guide hole
Solution Approach 2:
The groove portion acts as an intermediary structure between the tubular electrode and the guide hole, serving as a collection channel for burnt tissue that prevents direct contact between burnt tissue and the guide hole, thus maintaining saline flow patency
2Adaptability or versatility
If the guide hole is blocked by burnt tissue, then the knife cannot be used for cleaning, but the high-frequency knife needs to maintain both incision and cleaning functions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the electrode structure into distinct functional zones: the tubular electrode for incision, the groove portion for burnt tissue collection, and the guide hole for saline flow, allowing each segment to perform its specific function without interfering with others
Solution Approach 2:
The larger-diameter portion integrates multiple functions: it houses the guide hole for saline flow, provides the groove portion for burnt tissue collection, and maintains the insulating barrier, enabling the structure to perform both incision and cleaning functions simultaneously
3Productivity
If the burnt tissue accumulation increases the radial size of the knife portion, then the tissue excision capability is maintained, but the guide hole becomes blocked preventing saline jetting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different local qualities to different parts of the electrode structure: the tubular electrode surface has properties that cause burnt tissue adhesion for effective incision, while the groove portion provides a designated collection zone that directs burnt tissue away from the guide hole, maintaining local functional optimization without overall compromise
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 design effectively prevents the guide hole from being blocked by burnt tissue, ensuring continuous saline flow and maintaining the knife's functionality during tissue incision and cleaning.
Implementation Method 1
The knife portion to which the high frequency current is supplied has a high temperature of, for example, hundreds of degrees Celsius
Implementation Method 2
If the knife portion is moved in a transverse direction (a radial direction orthogonal to the direction of an axis of the sheath) while supplying a high frequency current to the electrode of the knife portion, the mucous membrane that comes into contact with the first electrode portion is incised
Implementation Method 3
a guide hole is formed in the electrical insulator portion so as to extend in the axis direction. This guide hole is formed between the second electrode portions that are adjacent to each other in the radial direction when viewed in the axis direction
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
The high-frequency knife has the electrode portion, the electrode portion includes a rod-shaped electrode which extends in the axis direction and is connected to the operating wire, a larger-diameter portion which has electric insulation, and has a larger external diameter than an external diameter of the rod-shaped electrode, a tubular electrode which is formed in a tubular, extends toward a proximal end side so as to surround the rod-shaped electrode from a proximal end surface of the larger-diameter portion, and is connected to the rod-shaped electrode, and an auxiliary electrodes which extend in a radial direction from an outer peripheral surface of the tubular electrode. A guide hole is provided in the larger-diameter portion. The guide hole extends in the aixs direstion and protrudes the larger-diameter portion, is capable of jetting the fluid that is supplied through the couduit line of the sheath from a front of the large-diameter portion, and is positioned at an outer side of the radial direction of the tubular electrode when being viewed in the axis direction. A distance increasing portion, which increases a creeping distance along an external surface of the larger-diameter portion between an outer peripheral surface of the tubular electrode exposed to an outside and an opening of a proximal end side of the guide hole, is provided in the proximal end surface of the larger-diameter portion.