Hybrid Stent Segmentation for Tortuous Vessel Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional stents lack flexibility and are not suitable for navigating the complex and tortuous blood vessels of the brain, particularly in wide-neck cerebral aneurysms, where they need to maintain position and withstand blood pressure.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid stent design featuring a combination of main cells and open cells aligned in a spiral shape, with open cells having a smaller width and increased in number, and link units forming a wave curve or tilted diamond shape, allowing for improved flexibility and recapturable positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a conventional stent with closed cells only is used, then structural strength is maintained, but flexibility is insufficient for navigating tortuous blood vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The stent structure is segmented into two distinct cell types: main cells with closed structures for strength, and open cells with open structures for flexibility. This segmentation allows each cell type to fulfill its specific functional role, resolving the contradiction between strength and flexibility
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the stent have different cell structures tailored to local requirements. Main cells provide structural strength where needed, while open cells provide flexibility in regions requiring navigation through tortuous vessels. This local differentiation resolves the universal contradiction between strength and flexibility
2Force
If the number of main cells per open cell is increased, then radial resistance is improved, but flexibility may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is segmented into alternating patterns of main cells and open cells along the longitudinal direction. This segmentation ensures that radial resistance and flexibility are distributed appropriately throughout the stent structure, preventing either property from dominating to the detriment of the other
Solution Approach 2:
The stent structure is designed to be dynamically adaptable, where the combination of rigid main cells and flexible open cells allows the stent to maintain radial resistance when needed while accommodating flexion and deformation during navigation through tortuous vessels
3Adaptability or versatility
If open cells are made smaller in width, then flexibility is enhanced, but structural stability may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The open cells are strategically positioned and sized to provide local flexibility where needed for navigation, while the adjacent main cells provide local structural stability. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction between flexibility and stability
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A hybrid stent includes multiple main cells aligned in a spiral shape and including multiple first link units which are aligned diagonally and spaced at a predetermined distance from each other and multiple second link units which connect adjacent first link units among the multiple first link units and are spaced at a predetermined distance from each other, and one or more open cells adjacent to the multiple main cells in a longitudinal direction and aligned in a spiral shape.