Joint-Less Wire Retrieval Device for Tortuous Anatomy Obstructions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical devices face challenges in accessing remote body regions due to their limited ability to constrain into a reduced profile for delivery and safely remove obstructions like blood clots or plaques, especially in tortuous anatomy, without causing vascular damage or premature mobilization.
Innovation Solution
The development of a joint-less, wire-form medical device with diverging wires that form capturing and translating surfaces, allowing for a larger profile deployment while maintaining flexibility and strength, and incorporating features like spring forces and staged inversion to securely engage and remove obstructions without deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a device is constructed with joints and connection points to achieve a larger profile for deployment, then the device can engage obstructions more effectively, but the device complexity increases and the ability to navigate tortuous anatomy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple wire functions into a single continuous wire structure that forms both the capturing portion and translating portion without joints. This integration eliminates connection points while maintaining structural integrity and engagement strength, resolving the contradiction between strength and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire is segmented into functional regions (capturing portion with first axial strength and translating portion with second axial strength) along its length, allowing each region to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall structural continuity and reducing complexity.
2Length of moving object
If a device is constrained into a reduced profile for delivery through microcatheters, then the device can access remote body regions, but the device's ability to engage and remove obstructions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs dynamic axial strength variation along the wire length, with the capturing portion having higher axial strength than the translating portion. This dynamic property distribution allows the device to maintain high engagement strength at the obstruction site while constraining the overall delivery profile through the microcatheter.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the wire are assigned different axial strengths locally - the capturing portion has first axial strength optimized for engagement, while the translating portion has second axial strength optimized for navigation. This local quality differentiation enables the device to achieve both small delivery profile and effective obstruction engagement.
3Ease of manufacture
If a device uses uniform axial strength throughout to simplify construction, then the manufacturing process is easier, but the device cannot effectively manage frictional resistance in tortuous anatomy
Solution Approach 1:
The wire is segmented into functional regions with different axial strengths - the capturing portion and translating portion have distinct mechanical properties. This segmentation enables the device to reliably navigate tortuous anatomy and manage frictional resistance while maintaining construction feasibility through continuous wire formation.
Data Source
AI summary
The devices and methods described herein relate to improved structures for removing obstructions from body lumens. Such devices have applicability in through-out the body, including clearing of blockages within the vasculature, by addressing the frictional resistance on the obstruction prior to attempting to translate and/or mobilize the obstruction within the body lumen.