Memory Metal Basket Catheter for Hard Thrombus Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intravascular thrombus and foreign body removal devices are ineffective in removing organized hard thrombi, often causing embolization and requiring proximal vessel occlusion, which can lead to further ischemia and vessel injury.
Innovation Solution
A deployable system using a catheter-delivered device with memory metal strips that can expand to capture and remove obstructions from blood vessels without the need for proximal occlusion, featuring a distal body with a claw-like structure that can be deployed from a microcatheter and manipulated to entrap clots, allowing for safe and timely removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If current thrombus removal devices are used, then device deployment is possible, but they are ineffective in removing organized hard thrombi and cause embolization
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the capture structure into multiple independent memory metal strips that can flex and conform to the vessel wall, allowing effective engagement with hard thrombi while reducing the risk of complete device failure or embolization
Solution Approach 2:
The memory metal strips provide dynamic flexibility, allowing the device to adapt its shape to match the tortuous vasculature and thrombus morphology, improving removal effectiveness while maintaining safety
2Reliability
If current thrombus removal devices are used, then thrombus capture is attempted, but proximal vessel occlusion is required which leads to further ischemia and vessel injury
Solution Approach 1:
The device extracts the capture function from a proximal occlusion mechanism, allowing thrombus removal without blocking blood flow at the proximal site, thereby eliminating the harmful effects of prolonged ischemia and vessel injury
Solution Approach 2:
The microcatheter serves as an intermediary delivery system that allows the device to be deployed distally through the vasculature without requiring proximal access or occlusion, enabling safe thrombus removal
3Reliability
If the device structure is made more complex to improve thrombus capture, then capture effectiveness increases, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The memory metal strips provide self-aligning and self-adjusting properties, automatically conforming to the vessel wall and thrombus shape without requiring complex control mechanisms, achieving effective capture with simple structure
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes phase transition properties of memory metal to change its structural parameters from a compressed delivery state to an expanded capture state, achieving complex functionality through material property changes rather than mechanical complexity
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 system effectively removes hard thrombi without embolization and allows for multi-use, is easy to manufacture, and does not require proximal vessel occlusion, reducing the risk of further ischemia and vessel injury.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of memory metal strips configured to expand from a compressed state to a deployed state to capture and entrap the clot
Data Source
AI summary
Catheter-delivered endovascular medical devices are described. The devices may include a pull wire attached to a deployable dual basket system. The deployable dual basket system may include a proximal basket and a distal basket that are connected by basket connector tether memory metal strips that rotate/twist relative to the longitudinal axes of the basket and form flex points of the system. The proximal basket and the distal basket may be comprised of a plurality of cells and the proximal basket may taper at its proximal end and the distal basket may be tapered at its distal end. Methods of using and making the devices are also described.