Self-Expanding Mesh Support Device for Submucosal Gastric Bypass
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gastric bypass surgeries are highly invasive, leading to complications such as bleeding, anesthesia issues, and deep vein thrombosis, limiting their accessibility to obese patients who are sensitive to medical complications.
Innovation Solution
A gastrointestinal implant with a support device that creates a submucosal tunnel within the gastrointestinal tract, allowing for a less invasive procedure by forming an artificial tunnel that bypasses a portion of the stomach, reducing the functional size and limiting food intake without extensive anatomical modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional gastric bypass surgery is performed to reduce functional stomach size, then weight loss is achieved, but surgical invasiveness and complications increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical surgical procedures (stapling, cutting, resection) with a self-expanding mesh implant that creates a gastric bypass tunnel through tissue ingrowth. The mesh structure expands within the stomach to form a bypass pathway, eliminating the need for invasive surgical manipulation of the stomach anatomy while achieving the same weight loss effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The mesh implant is designed to be self-expanding and self-anchoring through tissue ingrowth. Once deployed, the mesh automatically expands to its functional size and anchors itself to the surrounding gastric tissue without requiring surgical staples or mechanical fasteners. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex surgical assembly while maintaining the bypass function.
2Quantity of substance
If extensive anatomical modifications are made during gastric bypass, then food intake is restricted, but surgical complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mesh implant is designed as a modular structure with multiple expanding elements that can be deployed in a controlled manner. The segmented design allows the mesh to expand progressively through the stomach wall, creating a bypass tunnel without requiring complex surgical dissection or reconstruction of the entire gastrointestinal anatomy.
3Volume of moving object
If highly invasive surgery is used to create gastric bypass, then functional stomach size is reduced, but patient safety decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The mesh implant acts as an intermediary structure between the stomach wall and the bypass pathway. It mediates the creation of the bypass by expanding within the stomach wall to form a controlled tunnel, eliminating the need for direct surgical manipulation of the stomach anatomy and reducing the risk of surgical complications to patient safety.
Data Source
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AI summary
A support device for a gastrointestinal implant has a lumen configured to extend through a submucosal tunnel and a mouth located at a proximal end of the lumen and in fluid communication with the lumen. The mouth may be configured to face proximally within a gastrointestinal tract to receive GI contents, and the mouth may be configured to direct the GI contents into the lumen. The support device may further include a support structure, where the lumen extends through the support structure, and where the support structure is configured to apply an outward radial force on an inner wall of the gastrointestinal tract. An artificial tunnel may extend distally from the support structure, may form at least a portion of the lumen, and may be configured to extend through the submucosal tunnel.