Motor-Driven Helical Needle Suturing for Difficult Tissue Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
The process of positioning a needle at a desired location and motivating it through tissues to form a suture can be difficult, especially for skilled and experienced medical providers, making it challenging to reach the location and manually draw the needle through the body.
Innovation Solution
A motor-driven apparatus with counter-rotatable rollers engages a helically-shaped needle, allowing it to pierce and draw a filament through the body, forming a suture by revolving the needle around a first roller with a smaller radius than the needle's helical radius, facilitated by a motor drive and controller.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual needle manipulation is used for suturing, then the medical provider can control the needle positioning, but it becomes difficult to reach desired locations and draw the needle through tissues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical manipulation with an automated motor-driven system. The motor drive mechanism rotates the needle around the roller axis, automatically drawing it through the tissue to form sutures, eliminating the need for manual needle manipulation while expanding the ability to reach difficult locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The roller acts as an intermediary element between the motor drive and the needle. The needle is trained on the roller and rotates around it, using the roller as a pivot point to achieve the desired suturing motion without direct manual manipulation. This intermediary mechanism enables precise control and access to difficult-to-reach areas.
2Ease of operation
If a motor-driven roller mechanism is used to automate needle rotation, then ease of operation improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The motor-driven roller mechanism serves multiple functions: it holds the needle, rotates it around the roller axis, and controls the suturing motion. This multi-functional design consolidates several operations into a single mechanism, reducing overall system complexity despite the introduction of motorization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the needle support function with the rotation drive function into a single integrated roller mechanism. The needle is trained on the roller, which both supports and rotates it, merging what could be separate components into one unified element that simplifies the overall device architecture.
3Reliability
If the needle is made helically-shaped with a specific radius, then it can effectively pierce and draw through tissue, but the roller radius must be precisely matched
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies particular parameter relationships between the needle and roller, specifically that the roller radius should be between 0.5mm and 2.0mm while the needle helical radius is between 2.0mm and 5.0mm. These parameter specifications ensure reliable tissue piercing while providing practical manufacturing tolerances that balance precision requirements with manufacturability.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments include apparatuses, systems, and methods for suturing a wound, incision, or other opening. In an illustrative embodiment, an apparatus includes a roller mechanism configured to counter-rotatably support two generally-parallel rollers configured to engage therebetween a shaft of a helically-shaped needle, the needle having a point at a leading end, drawing a filament from a trailing end, and having a first helical radius, the needle being revolvable around a first roller having a roller radius that is less than a helical radius of the needle to enable the needle to pierce a body and draw a filament through a body disposed adjacent the first roller. A motor drive is operably coupled with roller mechanism to convey rotational force to rotate the two generally-parallel rollers. A controller is operably coupled with the motor drive and configured to cause the needle to complete at least one revolution to form a single suture in the body.