Invasive Probe Impedance Sensing for Clot Characterization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical devices for treating blood vessel blockages, such as stent-retrievers and aspiration catheters, face challenges in effectively grasping and removing blood clots due to non-optimal deployment and coalescence times, leading to incomplete clot removal and potential vessel damage, while lacking real-time feedback on clot composition and treatment efficacy.
Innovation Solution
A medical device with an invasive probe equipped with multiple sensors and impedance measurement capabilities to diagnose and treat blood vessel blockages by determining the composition of clots and providing real-time treatment recommendations, reducing the need for multiple interventions and minimizing vessel injury.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If stent-retriever is deployed into blood clot, then clot grabbing capability is improved, but treatment time is increased due to required waiting period for coalescence
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs impedance sensors that provide real-time feedback on clot characteristics and retrieval status. This feedback mechanism allows the operator to monitor clot coalescence with the stent-retriever and determine the optimal extraction time, eliminating the need for fixed waiting periods and enabling timely intervention while ensuring effective clot capture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces reliance on mechanical friction and physical coalescence timing with electrical impedance measurement. By using impedance sensors to detect clot-stent interaction and coalescence status, the system substitutes mechanical waiting time with electrical field-based detection, allowing real-time assessment without prolonged mechanical engagement.
2Productivity
If aspiration catheter is used to remove blood clot, then clot removal capability is improved, but risk of clot embolism increases due to potential inadvertent release
Solution Approach 1:
The impedance sensors provide continuous feedback on clot position and capture status within the catheter. This real-time information allows the operator to confirm complete clot engagement before extraction, reducing the risk of inadvertent clot release and embolism while maintaining efficient clot removal capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces impedance measurement as an intermediary detection mechanism between the aspiration catheter and the clot. This intermediary sensing system provides indirect but reliable information about clot-catheter interaction, enabling safer extraction decisions without directly manipulating the clot with mechanical forces that could cause embolism.
3Reliability
If multiple succession treatments are performed to remove blood clot, then complete clot removal is achieved, but vessel wall injury is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary assessment of clot characteristics using impedance sensors before initiating treatment. By characterizing the clot composition and structure in advance, the system enables selection of the most appropriate single treatment approach, reducing the need for multiple successive interventions and thereby minimizing cumulative vessel wall injury.
Solution Approach 2:
Real-time impedance feedback during the treatment procedure allows the operator to monitor clot retrieval completeness and adjust the procedure accordingly. This feedback mechanism enables achievement of complete clot removal in a single intervention by providing continuous information on treatment efficacy, eliminating the need for repeated procedures that would increase vessel trauma.
4Device complexity
If clinician operates aspiration catheter without real-time feedback, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision of clot composition is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates impedance sensors that provide real-time feedback on clot composition and characteristics. This feedback capability enables precise characterization of clot properties without requiring complex additional imaging or analysis systems, as the impedance data directly reflects clot composition and structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The impedance sensors utilize the electrical properties of the clot itself to provide compositional information. The clot's inherent electrical characteristics serve as the measurement signal, eliminating the need for external tracers, contrast agents, or complex labeling systems, thereby maintaining device simplicity while achieving precise clot characterization.
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
The device enhances the efficiency of clot removal by accurately characterizing clot composition and guiding treatment decisions, potentially reducing treatment time and minimizing vessel damage, thereby improving patient outcomes.
Implementation Method 1
The sensor may be an electrical impedance sensor, and the characteristic(s) may include one or more electrical properties of the clot
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described relate to a medical device including an invasive probe such as a guidewire that, when inserted into a duct (e.g. vasculature) of an animal (e.g., a human or non-human animal, including a human or non-human mammal), may be used to aid in diagnosing and/or treating a lesion of the duct (e.g. a growth or deposit within vasculature that fully or partially blocks the vasculature). The invasive probe may have one or more impedance sensors to sense characteristics of the lesion, including by detecting one or more characteristics of tissues and/or biological materials of the lesion. There is further described a method of assembling such a medical device.