Intraluminal Tube Deployable Tines Occlusion Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Intraluminal tubes, such as nasogastric tubes, often become occluded by stomach contents or mucosa during suction, requiring frequent maintenance and potentially disrupting treatment, as current solutions like air blow-off ports can reintroduce air and lead to recurring occlusions.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a distal portion with deployable tines that extend laterally from the sidewall of the tube to prevent occlusion, featuring longitudinal grooves for tine placement in a collapsed state to minimize patient impact and a slim profile for insertion, with an operator-controlled actuator to deploy or collapse the tines, ensuring continuous suction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If deployable tines are added to prevent occlusion, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tines are designed to be deployable rather than static, allowing them to transition between a collapsed state during insertion and a deployed state during operation. This dynamic configuration enables the tube to adapt its structure based on operational requirements, providing occlusion prevention only when needed while maintaining simplicity during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The tines are positioned within longitudinal grooves on the tube surface when in the collapsed state, effectively nesting the preventive structures within the tube's own geometry. This nesting approach allows the occlusion prevention mechanism to be integrated into the tube structure without significantly increasing its external dimensions or complexity during the insertion phase.
2Productivity
If tines are deployed to prevent occlusion, then suction function is maintained, but patient comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The deployable tine mechanism allows the system to dynamically adjust its interaction with the patient's anatomy. During insertion, the tines remain collapsed to minimize tissue disruption and discomfort. Once positioned, the tines are deployed to maintain suction function, providing continuous productivity only when the tube is properly positioned and needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The tube functionality is segmented into distinct phases: insertion phase with collapsed tines for patient comfort, and operational phase with deployed tines for suction continuity. This segmentation allows each phase to optimize for its specific requirement without compromise.
3Ease of repair
If air blow-off port is used to clear occlusions, then tube function is restored, but air is introduced into the stomach
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than clearing occlusions after they occur, the deployable tines provide preliminary prevention by maintaining tube patency during suction operations. The tines actively prevent stomach contents from occluding the lumen, eliminating the need for corrective air blow-off operations and their associated harmful effects.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure includes intraluminal tubes comprising: an elongated tube (e.g., having a proximal portion, a distal portion configured to be disposed inside of an internal cavity of a patient, and a sidewall defining a lumen extending from the proximal portion to the distal portion, the distal portion defining one or more openings in fluid communication with the lumen) and a plurality of deployable tines, each coupled to the tube and disposed outside the sidewall of the distal portion, where each tine is movable from a collapsed state to a deployed state in which a portion of the tine extends laterally away from the distal portion of the tube. In some of the present intraluminal tubes, the sidewall of the distal portion defines a plurality of longitudinal grooves, and each tine is disposed in a different one of the grooves when the tines are in the collapsed state.