Mesh Cap Occluder With Retention Arms for Wide-Neck Outpouchings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing treatments for vascular and brain aneurysms, particularly wide-necked outpouchings, face challenges such as device displacement, vessel damage, and high recurrence rates due to inadequate stabilization and permeability, with hydrogel use exacerbating issues like uneven swelling.
Innovation Solution
A self-expandable mesh occluding device with retention arms, deployed across the neck of the outpouching, provides immediate stabilization and serves as a permanent embolic plug, using materials like shape memory metals and polymers to secure the mesh in place, optionally with hydrogel engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If coils are packed within the aneurysm using a microcatheter, then the aneurysm can be filled, but the risk of damaging both the vessel and the aneurysm walls increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional components: a mesh cap for neck coverage and retention arms for stabilization. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function without requiring forceful coil packing, thereby reducing damage to vessel and aneurysm walls while maintaining effective aneurysm filling.
Solution Approach 2:
The mesh cap acts as an intermediary structure between the delivery system and the aneurysm neck. It provides a stable platform for coil placement and prevents direct contact between the microcatheter and the aneurysm wall, reducing mechanical damage while ensuring reliable aneurysm filling.
2Reliability
If a stent is used as a buttress to retain coils, then coil retention is improved, but the potential of damage to surrounding blood vessels increases and antiplatelet therapy is required
Solution Approach 1:
The device separates the retention function into dedicated retention arms that can be configured to engage with the aneurysm wall without requiring a stent. This segmentation eliminates the need for stent-related antiplatelet therapy while maintaining effective coil retention through the retention arms' mechanical engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The retention arms are designed as disposable, non-stent components that provide temporary mechanical retention during the procedure. They eliminate the need for permanent stent placement and associated antiplatelet therapy, reducing long-term vascular damage risk while ensuring adequate coil retention.
3Adaptability or versatility
If self-expanding coils are used, then the device can expand within the outpouching, but they fail to provide a structure which decreases the permeability of blood across the neck, resulting in higher rates of coil compaction and recurrence
Solution Approach 1:
The device is segmented into a mesh cap component specifically designed for neck coverage and a retention arm component for stabilization. The mesh cap provides a structured barrier that decreases blood permeability across the neck, while the retention arms prevent coil compaction. This segmentation addresses both the expansion capability and the neck sealing requirements simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The mesh cap provides localized quality improvement at the neck region by creating a dense mesh structure that specifically targets blood flow reduction. This local quality enhancement at the neck, combined with the retention arms for stabilization, prevents both coil compaction and recurrence while maintaining overall device expandability.
4Quantity of substance
If hydrogel is used in a vascular environment, then embolic materials can be delivered, but uneven swelling occurs which adversely alters the delivery characteristics for mesh occluders
Solution Approach 1:
The mesh cap is designed with pre-formed geometric features and retention arms that are prepared in advance to compensate for potential hydrogel swelling. The retention arms are configured to engage with the aneurysm wall before hydrogel delivery, establishing stable anchor points that maintain mesh occluder delivery characteristics even when hydrogel swells unevenly.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates adjustable parameters in the retention arm configuration and mesh cap geometry that can adapt to hydrogel swelling variations. This allows the delivery system to maintain precision and control over mesh occluder placement despite changes in hydrogel volume and consistency during the procedure.
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
Minimizes device displacement, reduces vessel damage, and decreases recurrence by stabilizing the outpouching immediately, allowing precise positioning and reducing the need for multiple embolic coils.
Implementation Method 1
flexible material, such as wire comprised of, for example, shape memory material including metals and polymers, super-elastic materials, spring material, etc.
Implementation Method 2
flexible material, such as wire comprised of, for example, shape memory material including metals and polymers, super-elastic materials, spring material, etc.
Data Source
AI summary
A self-expandable occluding device can both cover the neck of an outpouching and serve as a permanent embolic plug thereby immediately stabilizing the outpouching. The self-expandable device effectively covers the neck of an outpouching with, for example, a mesh, or other at least partially occluding component, in a desired orientation across the neck of the outpouching without projecting into the parent vessel. The device incorporates elements which immediately stabilize the device in the outpouching, in effect, functioning as a permanent embolic plug. An embolic disc is combined with retention arms of flexible material, which deploy within the outpouching and provide immediate stabilization thereby retaining the occluding component or mesh across the neck of the outpouching. In illustrative embodiments, the arms are in the form of coils configured to deploy into three dimensional structures.