Lymphatic Drainage Catheter With Fluid Trap for Passive Decongestion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for treating heart failure and edema often mix lymph fluid with venous blood, leading to inefficiencies and potential harm, and require mechanical pumps that can cause complications.
Innovation Solution
A catheter with deployable sealing elements creates a fluid trap around a lymphatic duct outlet, passively draining lymph to a collection vessel using a pressure differential, isolating lymph from blood and allowing for selective fluid management without mechanical pumps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mechanical pumps are used to drain fluid, then drainage efficiency is improved, but device complexity and risk of complications increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device utilizes the body's own pressure gradients to drive lymph drainage without external mechanical pumps. The catheter creates a fluid trap that leverages natural pressure differentials between the lymphatic system and surrounding tissues, allowing the system to self-regulate flow without active mechanical intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical pump systems with a passive pressure-based drainage mechanism. Instead of using motors, pistons, or peristaltic rollers to drive fluid flow, the invention uses elastic sealing elements and pressure differentials created by the fluid trap structure itself to achieve lymph removal.
2Ease of operation
If lymph fluid is mixed with venous blood, then fluid collection is simplified, but treatment effectiveness decreases due to inability to selectively manage different fluids
Solution Approach 1:
The device segments the fluid collection system into distinct compartments using deployable sealing elements. These seals create isolated chambers that prevent mixing of lymph fluid with venous blood, allowing separate management and treatment of each fluid type while maintaining surgical simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The fluid trap acts as an intermediary structure between the lymphatic outlet and venous blood. This intermediate chamber captures lymph at the source before it can mix with blood, while still allowing venous blood to flow normally through the vessel, thus protecting the purity of collected lymph.
3Productivity
If all fluid is drained from the body, then edema relief is maximized, but valuable bodily fluids are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The device extracts only the specific target fluid (lymph) from the body while leaving other valuable fluids (venous blood) intact. The deployable seals selectively isolate and remove lymph through the catheter while maintaining normal venous blood flow, preventing unnecessary loss of essential bodily fluids.
Solution Approach 2:
The treatment applies different management strategies to different fluids locally. Lymph fluid is actively captured and removed through the catheter system, while venous blood is allowed to continue flowing naturally through the vessel. This localized differential treatment ensures edema relief without depleting valuable blood volume.
4Reliability
If sealing elements are deployed to isolate lymph, then fluid separation is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing elements are designed to be dynamic rather than static, transitioning from a collapsed delivery configuration to an expanded deployed configuration. This dynamic transformation allows the seals to adapt to the vessel geometry and create effective barriers without requiring complex mechanical structures, simplifying both delivery and operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing elements are nested within the catheter structure in a collapsed state during delivery, similar to a doll within a doll. Once positioned at the target site, they expand outward from the catheter body to form the fluid trap. This nested design allows complex sealing functionality to be packaged within a simple deliverable catheter structure.
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 effectively relieves edema symptoms by rapidly draining less valuable lymph fluids while retaining valuable bodily fluids, reducing the risk of complications and providing precise fluid control.
Implementation Method 1
The device is configured such that the drainage lumen passively drains the fluid trap into the collection vessel
Implementation Method 2
proximal and distal sealing elements disposed about a distal portion of the catheter. The proximal and distal sealing elements are deployable to seal the vein to thereby define a fluid trap between them
Data Source
AI summary
Devices and methods of the disclosure use an intravascular catheter with deployable sealing elements to create a fluid trap around an outlet of a lymphatic duct and drain lymph passively to a collection vessel that may be pressurized to a predetermined pressure or a partial vacuum. Due to the fixed pressure, the device creates a low-pressure area at the lymphatic duct, which drains lymph passively without any mechanical pump or impeller. In certain aspects, a device includes a catheter for insertion into a vein of the venous angle of a patient, with proximal and distal sealing elements deployable to seal the vein to thereby define a fluid trap around the lymphatic outlet. A port within the fluid trap opens to a drainage lumen extending along the catheter to a collection vessel. The device may be configured such that the drainage lumen passively drains the fluid trap into the collection vessel.