Movable Sleeve Catheter for Independent Electrode Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing catheters with fixed electrode positions face challenges in accurately positioning both nutritional and electrical stimulation functions, leading to discomfort, potential blockages, and increased risk of incorrect placement, which can result in ineffective nutrition delivery and complications during use.
Innovation Solution
A catheter design featuring a movable sleeve with electrodes that can be independently positioned relative to an elongate shaft, allowing for separate optimization and removal of functions, such as electrical stimulation and nutrition delivery, with the option to leave the sleeve in the body while removing the shaft, and incorporating multi-strand steel wire for enhanced durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If electrodes are fixed on the elongate shaft of the catheter, then the catheter can deliver both nutrition and electrical stimulation through a single insertion, but the positioning accuracy of electrodes becomes difficult to control across patients of different heights
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into functionally independent segments: the elongate shaft for nutrition delivery and the movable sleeve for electrical stimulation. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized and positioned independently, resolving the contradiction between multi-functionality and positioning precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve is made movable along the elongate shaft, transforming the fixed electrode positioning into a dynamic, adjustable system. This allows the electrodes to be repositioned to achieve optimal placement for each patient while maintaining the shaft in the correct gastric position.
2Measurement precision
If the catheter is made long enough to accommodate the tallest patient, then electrode positioning can be achieved for all patients, but the catheter becomes excessively long and risks entanglement and incorrect placement in shorter patients
Solution Approach 1:
The movable sleeve allows the effective length of the electrode-carrying portion to be dynamically adjusted. The catheter can be inserted to a standard length, and the sleeve is then positioned along the shaft to achieve correct electrode placement regardless of patient height, eliminating the need for excessively long catheters.
3Measurement precision
If the catheter is over-inserted to bring electrodes into correct position in shorter patients, then electrode positioning is achieved, but the distal end may leave the stomach and enter the duodenum or become entangled
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the nutrition delivery function (shaft) from the electrical stimulation function (sleeve), the system allows independent positioning. The shaft can be securely positioned in the stomach while the sleeve is adjusted separately to place electrodes correctly, eliminating the need for over-insertion and associated safety risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable sleeve enables dynamic adjustment of electrode position without moving the shaft. This dynamic positioning capability allows correct electrode placement to be achieved by sliding the sleeve rather than by over-inserting the entire catheter, thereby maintaining shaft position and preventing complications.
4Reliability
If the internal lumen becomes blocked, then nutrition delivery is compromised, but replacing the entire catheter is necessary even if only the nutrition function is affected
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system is segmented into replaceable (shaft) and permanent (sleeve) components. When the shaft becomes blocked, only the shaft needs to be replaced while the functional sleeve remains in place, reducing the complexity of the replacement process and maintaining continuity of care.
5Productivity
If electrical stimulation treatment is completed, then therapeutic function is achieved, but the catheter must remain in place for nutrition delivery which reduces patient comfort and safety
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented design allows the sleeve to be separated from the shaft. After electrical stimulation treatment is completed, the sleeve can be removed while the shaft remains for nutrition delivery, or vice versa. This selective removal capability significantly improves patient comfort and safety management.
Data Source
AI summary
A catheter suitable for delivering an electric current to the body, in particular a catheter having electrodes that can be positioned independently of the main elongate shaft of the catheter. More particularly the catheters include a movable sleeve that incorporates the electrodes. A movable sleeve includes one or more electrodes and advances in the construction of the electrodes and related components is disclosed. Methods for positioning electrodes at a treatment site in the body for diagnostic or therapeutic applications, particularly electrical pharyngeal stimulation are also disclosed.