Multi-Segment Clot Retrieval Device with Hinged Pinching Cells
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current clot retrieval devices face challenges in navigating complex vascular geometries, minimizing vessel trauma, and effectively removing clots with varying morphologies and properties, particularly in delicate cerebral and pulmonary vasculature.
Innovation Solution
A multi-layer clot retrieval device with expandable scaffolding sections and pinching cells that self-align to articulate in bends, minimizing vessel damage and securely engaging clots with varying morphologies, allowing for controlled clot removal and reperfusion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the device uses a high profile and inflexible structure to effectively remove clot, then clot removal capability is improved, but vessel trauma increases and access difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into multiple modular components including an inner body with flow channel, outer body with scaffolding sections, and hinged elements connecting them. This segmentation allows each component to perform specific functions while reducing overall trauma - the flexible outer body navigates tortuous vessels while the inner body provides stable clot engagement, resolving the contradiction between effective clot removal and vessel trauma prevention
Solution Approach 2:
The outer body is constructed with flexible scaffolding sections that can articulate and bend to navigate tortuous vasculature including aortic arches and cerebral vessels. This flexibility allows the device to reach clot locations in difficult-to-access vessels without causing trauma from rigid structures, while still providing sufficient force to remove clots effectively
2Reliability
If the device uses a rigid structure to grip and remove clot, then clot removal effectiveness is improved, but clot fragmentation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hinged elements connect the inner and outer bodies, allowing the device to dynamically adapt its configuration during deployment and retrieval. The hinges enable the scaffolding sections to flex and conform to the clot morphology, providing effective grip on various clot types while distributing forces to prevent fragmentation. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between effective clot removal and prevention of clot breakup
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes its structural parameters through deployment - transitioning from a compressed delivery state to an expanded treatment state. The scaffolding sections expand to provide gentle engagement with the clot, and the hinged elements allow continuous adjustment of grip strength based on clot properties, enabling effective removal without excessive force that would cause fragmentation
3Ease of operation
If the device is made flexible to navigate tortuous vessels, then access capability is improved, but clot gripping strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The device separates the flexibility function (outer body with scaffolding sections) from the clot engagement function (inner body with flow channel). The outer body provides the necessary flexibility to navigate tortuous vessels while the inner body maintains sufficient structural integrity to grip and remove clots, resolving the contradiction between access capability and gripping strength
Solution Approach 2:
The inner body is nested within the outer body, with the flow channel inside the scaffolding sections. This nested configuration allows the flexible outer body to navigate vessels while the rigid inner body provides stable clot engagement. The inner body is protected by the outer body during navigation, and both work together to achieve both flexibility and gripping strength
4Reliability
If the device compresses clot during retrieval, then clot consolidation for removal is improved, but clot stiffness and friction increase causing retrieval difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The hinged elements allow the device to dynamically adjust its compression force during retrieval. The hinges enable the scaffolding sections to flex and reduce compression as the device is pulled back, preventing excessive stiffness and friction that would make retrieval difficult, while still providing sufficient consolidation to maintain clot integrity during the procedure
Data Source
AI summary
A clot removal device including a first scaffolding section, a second scaffolding section distal of the first scaffolding section by a first hinged element including a pinching cell. The pinching cell has a collapsed state and an expanded state configured to pinch at least a portion of a clot. A third scaffolding section is distal of the second scaffolding section by a second hinged strut element including a pinching cell that has a collapsed state and an expanded state configured to pinch at least a portion of the clot. An outer diameter of the third scaffolding section is greater than an outer diameter of the second scaffolding section, which is greater than an outer diameter of the first scaffolding section.