Shape-Memory Mitral Valve Anchor for Moving Tissue Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing treatments for mitral valve regurgitation, including pharmacological and surgical interventions, are invasive, costly, and dependent on skilled surgeons, with existing implants facing challenges in sealing and durability due to heart tissue movement.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising an anchor with a proximal end and a distal end for engaging tissue, a suture coupled to the anchor, and a clip made of nitinol or other shape memory material, which is deployed using a delivery tool to secure an implantable medical device for improving leaflet coaptation without disrupting native anatomy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing implants are used to treat mitral valve regurgitation, then the treatment can be performed, but the implants face challenges in sealing and durability due to heart tissue movement
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor is designed with a flexible body that can dynamically adapt to the movement of heart tissue. The anchor body includes a flexible portion that can deform elastically to accommodate the dynamic environment of the heart, maintaining stable engagement with the tissue despite its movement. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between reliability and tissue stability by allowing the anchor to move with the tissue rather than resist it.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor utilizes shape memory material that can change its physical parameters (shape, stiffness) in response to environmental conditions. The material can transition between different states to optimize engagement with moving heart tissue, changing its mechanical properties to maintain reliable sealing and durability while accommodating tissue movement.
2Reliability
If surgical interventions are used to treat mitral valve regurgitation, then the treatment can be effective, but the procedures are invasive and cause surgical trauma
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces traditional mechanical surgical interventions (sutures, clips, staplers) with a delivery system that deploys the anchor through a catheter. The anchor is delivered percutaneously through a vein and positioned in the left ventricle using minimally invasive techniques, substituting open surgical mechanical operations with a less invasive catheter-based delivery mechanism while maintaining treatment effectiveness.
3Reliability
If traditional surgical methods are used, then implants can be secured, but the procedures are costly and dependent on skilled surgeons
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor incorporates self-securing features that automatically engage with the heart tissue upon deployment. The expansion mechanism and tissue engagement features are designed to self-adjust and self-lock into place without requiring complex manual manipulation or highly skilled surgical techniques. The device performs part of the securing function autonomously, reducing dependency on surgeon skill while maintaining reliable implant fixation.
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 provides effective, less-invasive treatment for mitral valve regurgitation by enhancing leaflet coaptation, reducing backflow, and minimizing surgical trauma and costs, suitable for deployment by a range of physicians.
Implementation Method 1
a clip made of nitinol or other shape memory material
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates in some aspects to a device for use in anchoring an implant, including anchors, sutures, implants, clips, tools, lassos, and methods of anchoring among other methods. Anchors as disclosed herein could be utilized to secure a coaptation assistance device, an annuloplasty ring, an artificial valve, cardiac patch, sensor, pacemaker, or other implants. The implant could be a mitral valve ring or artificial mitral valve in some embodiments.