Intravascular Sensor Guide for Neurovascular Viability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current diagnostic procedures for neurovascular conditions, such as ischemic strokes and aneurysms, are time-consuming and costly, and existing methods for assessing the effectiveness of treatments, like coil packing density and angiograms, lack precision in measuring pressure, flow, and volume.
Innovation Solution
The use of intravascular guidewires or catheters equipped with sensors to measure pressure, volume, and flow within blood vessels, allowing for real-time data analysis to determine tissue viability and guide surgical protocols, including thrombectomy, stent placement, and coil embolization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If MRI or CT-perfusions are used to determine tissue viability, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but procedural time and cost increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex imaging systems (MRI, CT-perfusions) with a simple pressure sensor-based measurement system. The sensor measures pressure differential across the occlusion to calculate flow metrics, substituting expensive and time-consuming imaging mechanics with a simpler, faster pressure-based assessment method that provides sufficient diagnostic accuracy for treatment decision-making
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential diagnostic function from complex imaging systems by isolating the key parameter needed for treatment decisions (flow assessment) and measuring it directly through pressure sensors. This extraction eliminates unnecessary imaging steps while retaining the critical diagnostic information needed to determine tissue viability and guide thrombectomy decisions
2Ease of operation
If coil packing density is measured to assess aneurysm treatment effectiveness, then treatment evaluation is performed, but measurement accuracy deteriorates due to various conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the measurement parameter from visual coil packing density assessment to pressure-based flow measurement. By measuring pressure differential across the aneurysm before and after coiling, the system objectively quantifies treatment effectiveness through flow reduction, eliminating the subjectivity and inaccuracy of visual packing density estimation while providing a reliable, standardized metric for treatment evaluation
3Illumination intensity
If angiogram is used to assess aneurysm treatment effectiveness, then anatomical visualization is improved, but functional measurement capability (pressure, flow, volume) is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the anatomical visualization function of angiography with the functional measurement capability of pressure sensing into a single integrated system. The pressure sensor is positioned within the aneurysm during the angiogram procedure, allowing simultaneous acquisition of both anatomical images and pressure/flow data, thereby eliminating the information loss inherent in using angiogram alone while maintaining its visualization strengths
Data Source
AI summary
A method for performing a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure on a partial occlusion within a blood vessel, includes positioning a guide having a sensor configured and adapted to measure at least one of pressure, volume or flow within a blood vessel, advancing the guide through an at least partial occlusion within the blood vessel such that the sensor is downstream of the occlusion, measuring at least one of pressure, volume or flow downstream of the occlusion using the sensor and analyzing data obtained from the sensor to assist in determining the viability of tissue of the blood vessel downstream of the occlusion.