Knit Fiber Constraint for Controlled Stent Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing delivery systems for implantable medical devices like stents and stent-grafts face challenges in precise deployment, particularly in navigating tortuous vasculature while minimizing trauma and ensuring controlled expansion from a constrained to an expanded diameter without accelerated self-deployment.
Innovation Solution
A constraining mechanism using interwoven constraining fibers with a warp and non-warp knit pattern, forming a constraint that can be selectively unraveled to control the deployment of the medical device, preventing unwanted self-expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a constraint is used to hold the medical device in a constrained configuration during delivery, then the device can be protected and positioned accurately, but the device may experience accelerated self-deployment when the constraint is removed
Solution Approach 1:
The constraint is divided into multiple rows of knots with different knit patterns. The warp knit rows provide structural support and prevent accelerated deployment, while the non-warp knit rows allow controlled release. This segmentation of the constraint structure enables differentiated functionality within a single constraint system.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the constraint have different knit patterns (warp knit vs. non-warp knit). The warp knit portions provide high structural integrity to prevent premature deployment, while the non-warp knit portions provide controlled release characteristics. This local differentiation of material properties solves the contradiction between protection and controlled deployment.
2Reliability
If the constraint is made strong enough to prevent accelerated expansion, then device protection is improved, but the complexity of the constraining mechanism increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple rows of knots with different knit patterns are combined into a single integrated constraint structure. This merging approach allows the constraint to provide both strong protection against accelerated expansion (through warp knit rows) and controlled deployment (through non-warp knit rows) without requiring multiple separate mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The constraint uses a composite structure combining warp knit and non-warp knit patterns within the same constraint body. This composite construction provides differentiated mechanical properties in different regions, achieving both strong protection and controlled deployment while maintaining a unified constraint structure rather than multiple separate mechanisms.
3Ease of operation
If the constraint is designed to be easily removed for deployment, then ease of operation is improved, but the device may lack sufficient protection during delivery
Solution Approach 1:
The constraint is segmented into warp knit rows that provide protection and non-warp knit rows that facilitate easy removal. When deployment is needed, the non-warp knit rows can be easily released while the warp knit rows maintain structural support, achieving both ease of operation and reliable protection.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the constraint have different properties: warp knit regions provide strong protection during delivery, while non-warp knit regions provide easy release characteristics. This local quality differentiation allows the constraint to be both protective and easy to remove without compromising either function.
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
Enables precise and controlled deployment of medical devices by reducing the likelihood of accelerated expansion, allowing for safe and accurate positioning at the target site.
Implementation Method 1
at least one first constraining fiber arranged as a series of multiple loops to form a warp knit surrounding the medical device in a constrained configuration
Implementation Method 2
the at least one first constraining fiber and the at least one second constraining fiber form a constraint
Implementation Method 3
Some stents are designed to elastically recover by being manufactured at their functional diameter out of a material that has elastic recovery properties, and then radially compressed to be mounted on a delivery catheter
Implementation Method 4
at least one second constraining fiber arranged with the at least one first constraining fiber, the at least one second constraining fiber having at least one loop arranged in a non-warp knit pattern
Data Source
AI summary
Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward medical device deployment apparatuses, systems, and methods. The apparatuses, systems, and methods may include at least one first constraining fiber arranged as a series of multiple loops to form a warp knit surrounding the medical device in a constrained configuration and at least one second constraining fiber arranged with the at least one first constraining fiber having at least one loop arranged in a non-warp knit pattern.