Multi-lumen Catheter Flow Area Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current multi-lumen catheters face challenges in providing sufficient flow area for therapeutic treatments while maintaining a small outer diameter to facilitate easy insertion and removal, as they often have either large inner diameter lumens with correspondingly large outer diameters or small inner diameter lumens with small outer diameters, which can occlude blood vessels or complicate withdrawal.
Innovation Solution
A multi-lumen catheter design featuring a plurality of smaller lumens separated by septums that merge into a larger distal lumen with a greater flow area, allowing for increased volumetric flow without increasing the outer diameter of the catheter shaft, thereby enhancing treatment delivery and ease of insertion and removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multi-lumen catheters are designed with larger inner diameter lumens to provide sufficient flow area for therapeutic treatments, then the volumetric flow rate increases, but the outer diameter of the catheter shaft becomes correspondingly larger, making insertion and removal more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter shaft is divided into a proximal portion with multiple smaller lumens and a distal portion with a single larger lumen. The septums separating the proximal lumens terminate before the distal end, allowing the lumens to merge into the larger distal lumen. This segmentation allows the catheter to have multiple flow paths proximally that converge distally into a larger flow area, increasing volumetric flow rate while maintaining a manageable outer diameter throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple smaller lumens in the proximal portion merge into a single larger lumen in the distal portion. The septums that separate the proximal lumens terminate distally, allowing the lumens to combine their flow areas into the larger distal lumen. This merging provides sufficient flow area for therapeutic treatments while the overall catheter outer diameter remains constrained by the smaller proximal lumens configuration.
2Ease of operation
If multi-lumen catheters are designed with smaller outer diameter shafts to facilitate easy insertion and removal, then ease of operation improves, but the inner diameter lumens become correspondingly smaller, reducing the flow area for therapeutic treatments
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter design transitions from maintaining uniform lumen sizes along its length to varying lumen dimensions. The proximal portion has multiple smaller lumens that fit within a constrained outer diameter, while the distal portion features a single larger lumen with increased flow area. This dimensional change along the catheter's length allows the distal tip to provide sufficient flow for treatments while the proximal portion maintains ease of insertion and removal.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the catheter shaft have different lumen configurations optimized for their specific functions. The proximal portion has multiple smaller lumens separated by septums, optimized for ease of insertion and removal within a small outer diameter. The distal portion has a single larger lumen with greater flow area, optimized for providing sufficient therapeutic flow. This local quality variation resolves the contradiction between overall catheter size and distal flow capability.
Data Source
AI summary
In at least one embodiment, a catheter for insertion into a patient for providing treatment is provided. The catheter comprises an elongated shaft having a proximal portion extending to a distal portion. The proximal portion has a plurality of first lumens formed therethrough and at least one septum separating the first lumens in non-coaxial relationship with each other. The first lumens each have an associated flow area for providing the treatment through the proximal portion. The distal portion has a second lumen in fluid communication with the first lumens. The septum terminates distally in the proximal portion to merge the first lumens with the second lumen. The second lumen has a second flow area that is greater than any one of the associated flow areas of the first lumens for providing the treatment to the patient.