Loop Tip Wire Guide Navigating Tortuous Lumens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wire guides with straight tips face difficulties navigating tortuous body lumens, as they may bend and get caught in natural bends or unnatural impediments, potentially causing trauma to the lumen wall and hindering further advancement.
Innovation Solution
A wire guide with a loop tip configuration, featuring an elongate shaft and a loop portion connected via interlocking connectors, designed to facilitate navigation through tortuous pathways while minimizing trauma to the lumen wall, allowing for deformation and flexibility to navigate past impediments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a straight wire guide tip is used, then the wire guide structure is simple, but the wire guide may get caught in lumen bends or impediments and cause trauma to the lumen wall
Solution Approach 1:
The wire guide tip is formed into a loop configuration instead of a straight tip. This curved geometry allows the tip to navigate tortuous body lumens more effectively by conforming to natural bends and curves, preventing the tip from getting caught or perforating the lumen wall while maintaining structural simplicity through a single continuous loop formation
2Ease of manufacture
If a straight wire guide tip is used, then the manufacturing process is simple, but navigation through tortuous body lumens becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The loop tip configuration is integrated into the wire guide during manufacturing, creating a curved tip that naturally follows tortuous pathways in body lumens. This design improvement enhances navigability through complex anatomical structures without requiring complex manufacturing processes, as the loop can be formed through standard wire shaping techniques
Solution Approach 2:
The loop tip provides dynamic adaptability by allowing the wire guide to flex and conform to varying lumen geometries during navigation. The loop configuration enables the tip to dynamically adjust to bends, curves, and impediments encountered in the body lumen, improving ease of operation while maintaining a relatively simple manufacturing process
3Ease of operation
If a loop tip wire guide is used, then navigation through tortuous lumens is improved, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The loop tip configuration provides the primary navigational advantage through its curved geometry, which naturally follows tortuous pathways. While this does increase structural complexity compared to a straight tip, the loop formation remains a relatively simple continuous structure that can be integrated into standard wire guide manufacturing processes, balancing improved ease of operation with acceptable device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
An elongate medical device configured for navigation through a lumen is provided. The device includes an elongate shaft having a proximal portion and a distal portion. The distal portion includes a first interlocking connector. The device further includes a loop portion operably connected to the distal portion. The loop portion includes a second interlocking connector configured for connecting to the first interlocking connector. A medical system is also provided including a catheter and a wire guide. A method of making a wire guide is provided.