Replaceable Clip Cartridge for Multi-Fire Surgical Appliers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic surgical systems face challenges in ensuring safety and precision during minimally invasive surgeries, particularly with clip applier instruments, where clips need to be safely loaded and maintained without compromising sterility.
Innovation Solution
A clip applier instrument with a replaceable clip cartridge and a mechanism for securely stacking and advancing multiple clips, ensuring easy and sterile loading and deployment, integrated within a robotic surgical system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If clips are stacked at the distal end of the clip applier instrument, then multiple clipping operations can be performed without frequent reloading, but the complexity of the instrument increases and sterile loading becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The instrument is divided into distinct functional modules: a replaceable cartridge assembly containing multiple clips, a pusher assembly for advancing clips, and a jaw assembly for application. This segmentation allows the complex multi-clip functionality to be achieved through modular components that can be independently manufactured, assembled, and sterilized, thereby managing overall device complexity while enabling multiple clipping operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple clips are nested within the cartridge assembly, with each clip positioned in a dedicated chamber. The pusher assembly is nested within the same cartridge structure, allowing sequential access to nested clips. This nesting arrangement enables multiple clipping operations from a single loaded cartridge without requiring complex external mechanisms.
2Ease of operation
If clips are loaded into the clip applier instrument, then the instrument can perform clipping operations, but maintaining sterility during loading and storage becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple clips are pre-loaded into the cartridge assembly in a controlled manufacturing environment where sterility can be ensured. The cartridge acts as a pre-prepared sterile container that protects clips during storage and transport. Before surgery, the entire cartridge can be sterilized as a unit, and the clips remain protected within the sealed cartridge structure until deployment, thereby maintaining sterility while enabling easy loading of multiple clips.
Solution Approach 2:
The clips are extracted from their sterile packaging and transferred into the cartridge assembly through a controlled process. Once inside the sealed cartridge, the clips are protected from contamination. The cartridge itself can be sterilized independently, separating the sterilization process from the clip loading process, thereby ensuring sterility while maintaining ease of operation.
3Ease of repair
If a replaceable cartridge assembly is used, then clips can be easily replaced and sterility maintained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The replaceable cartridge assembly is designed as a self-contained module that can be independently removed and replaced. This segmentation simplifies the replacement process - the entire cartridge is exchanged as a single unit rather than individual clips being manipulated. The simplified modular interface reduces the complexity of the replacement mechanism while maintaining ease of repair and sterility.
Solution Approach 2:
The cartridge assembly is designed with universal features that allow it to function both as a storage container and as the replacement mechanism itself. The cartridge includes integrated elements for engagement with the jaw assembly and for advancing clips, combining multiple functions into a single replaceable unit. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate complex mechanisms while maintaining ease of replacement.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a surgical instrument, such as a clip applier which can be configured to apply one or more clips to a vessel located within a surgical site in the patient. The clip applier can be structured and arranged to position a clip relative to the vessel in order to compress the vessel within the clip. The clip applier can be configured to deform the clip within the jaws. The end effector of the clip applier can include a replaceable clip cartridge.