Intraluminal Prosthesis Flap Fenestrations for Side-Branch Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intraluminal vascular prostheses face challenges in precisely accommodating branching blood vessels, requiring custom-made designs, risking material tearing, and causing uncontrolled blood leakage through fenestrations.
Innovation Solution
A vascular prosthesis with U- or V-shaped fenestrations that form flap-like access points for side branches, allowing flexible standardization and minimizing endoleaks, using a stent framework with non-interconnected meandering supports and circumferential stent rings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If fenestrations are created in the prosthetic material to accommodate side branches, then blood supply to side vessels is enabled, but the risk of material tearing and uncontrolled blood leakage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by creating a flap-like access that can dynamically open and close. The flap is held closed by elastic memory of the prosthetic material but can be pushed open by blood pressure or surgical instruments to allow side branch insertion, then automatically closes to prevent leakage. This dynamic mechanism resolves the contradiction by providing adaptability when needed while maintaining reliability at other times.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and configuration of the prosthetic material at the fenestration site. The material transitions from a closed, intact state to an opened flap configuration during side branch insertion, then returns to the closed state. This parameter change allows the material to adapt to different functional requirements without permanent damage or leakage risk.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom-made vascular prostheses are used to precisely accommodate branching blood vessels, then precise placement is achieved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a standardizable prosthesis with integrated flap-like accesses that can accommodate side branches of varying sizes and positions. The flap mechanism provides a universal solution for side branch accommodation without requiring custom-made prostheses for each patient's specific anatomy, thus reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining precise placement capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the prosthetic material by creating localized fenestrations with flap-like accesses at specific positions along the prosthesis body. This segmentation allows the main prosthesis to remain a standardized component while providing targeted adaptability at specific segments where side branches need to be accommodated.
3Reliability
If the prosthetic material is made blood-tight to prevent leakage, then vessel wall pressure is relieved, but blood supply to branching vessels is cut off
Solution Approach 1:
The flap-like access creates a dynamic system where the prosthetic material transitions between closed (blood-tight) and open (blood flow permitted) states. The flap remains closed under normal conditions to maintain pressure containment, but can be opened to allow blood flow to side branches, thus resolving the contradiction between these two opposing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The flap mechanism is designed to be self-regulating, using the elastic memory of the prosthetic material to automatically close after opening. This self-service mechanism ensures that blood-tight sealing is maintained without requiring external intervention, while still allowing blood flow when the flap is pushed open by physiological or surgical forces.
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
Ensures blood supply to side vessels while reducing the risk of material tearing and endoleaks, enabling precise placement and universal applicability without custom fabrication.
Implementation Method 1
Due to the spring action of the metal frame, the vascular prosthesis expands back to its original shape, stretching its outer surface, which clamps itself inside the blood vessel
Implementation Method 2
If it is a self-expanding vascular prosthesis, the wire mesh or the stent elements are made of a shape-memory material or a shape-memory alloy, e.g., Nitinol
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The invention relates to an intraluminal vascular prosthesis (10, 18, 20) for implantation into a blood vessel, comprising a stent framework (11) and a prosthesis material (13) that is secured to said stent framework (11), wherein the vascular prosthesis (10, 18, 20) comprises a hollow cylindrical main body having a lumen running through it, and an outer casing that closes around the periphery, wherein at least one substantially U-shaped or V-shaped fenestration cut (16) is made in the prosthesis material (13) of the vascular prosthesis (10, 18, 20) and is sized and designed such that, by means thereof, a flap-type access to the lumen of the vascular prosthesis (10, 18, 20) can be formed for at least one side branch originating from the hollow cylindrical main part.