Magnetic Gel Kit for Capturing Urinary Calculus Fragments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for removing urinary calculus fragments, particularly kidney stone fragments, are inefficient, leading to residual fragments that can cause repeated health issues and increased healthcare costs, as they often fail to capture medium-sized fragments effectively.
Innovation Solution
A kit comprising a cationically crosslinkable polymer composition and a crosslinking agent, optionally with magnetizable particles, forms a crosslinked gel that surrounds and securely captures urinary calculus fragments, allowing for their magnetic removal from the body.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional methods are used to remove urinary calculus fragments, then the removal process is simple, but medium-sized fragments are not captured effectively, leading to residual fragments and repeated health issues
Solution Approach 1:
A gel composition acts as an intermediary substance between the magnetic retrieval device and the urinary calculus fragments. The gel surrounds and captures the fragments, enabling them to be retrieved together as a unified complex through magnetic attraction, thereby solving the problem of incomplete fragment capture
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite structure consisting of the gel composition and urinary calculus fragments. This composite material allows the fragments to be embedded within the gel matrix, which can then be magnetically attracted and removed as a single unit, improving capture reliability
2Reliability
If a gel composition is used to surround urinary calculus fragments, then complete capture of fragments is achieved, but the gel must be removed from the body which adds procedural complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces mechanical removal methods with magnetic field-based retrieval. The gel composition contains magnetizable particles that respond to external magnetic fields, allowing the gel-fragment complex to be pulled out through the urethra using a magnetic retrieval device, simplifying the removal process
Solution Approach 2:
The gel composition is introduced into the urinary tract as a fluid or semi-fluid that can flow through the urethra. After capturing the fragments, the entire gel-fragment complex can be drawn out using magnetic forces, utilizing the fluid dynamics of the urinary tract to facilitate removal
3Reliability
If multiple separate procedures are used to remove different sized fragments, then each fragment type can be targeted, but the total treatment time and healthcare costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gel composition is designed with universal applicability to capture urinary calculus fragments of various sizes through a single procedure. The magnetizable particles and gel matrix work together to capture and retrieve all fragment types simultaneously, eliminating the need for multiple separate procedures and improving treatment efficiency
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 kit enables the reliable extraction of urinary calculus fragments of any size, preventing repeated calculus formation by forming a stable, flexible gel that can be removed in one piece using magnetic interactions, thereby reducing healthcare burdens.
Implementation Method 1
The polymers or polymer units, respectively, of composition (A) are crosslinked via ionic interactions (see composition (B))
Implementation Method 2
Using magnetic interactions, the gel together with the urinary calculi and/or fragments thereof, more particularly kidney stones and/or fragments thereof, can be removed from the body
Data Source
AI summary
Described is a kit for producing a crosslinked gel for surrounding urinary calculi and/or fragments thereof, more particularly kidney stones and/or fragments thereof, comprising a composition (A) comprising one or several cationically crosslinkable polymer(s), and a composition (B) comprising one or several crosslinking agent(s) for crosslinking the cationically crosslinkable polymer(s), wherein composition (A) and/or composition (B) additionally comprise(s) magnetizable particles or the kit additionally comprises a composition (C) that contains magnetizable particles. Upon contact of composition (A) with composition (B) in a region of the urinary tract, more particularly the kidney, that contains urinary calculi and/or fragments thereof, more particularly kidney stones and/or fragments thereof, a crosslinked gel is formed that partly or fully surrounds the urinary calculi and/or fragments thereof, more particularly kidney stones and/or fragments thereof, and that contains the magnetizable particles. The gel together with the urinary calculi and/or fragments thereof, more particularly kidney stones and/or fragments thereof, can then be removed from the body by using magnetic interactions.