Multi-lumen catheter retractor for stable GI operative space
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current endoscopic technologies lack the ability to optimally expand, affix, and dynamically retract tissue to create a stable and flexible operative space during gastrointestinal procedures, leading to challenges in visualization and manipulation of instruments within the gastrointestinal tract.
Innovation Solution
A minimally invasive system with a reversibly-expandable retractor and multi-lumen catheter that allows for asymmetric expansion and stabilization of the working space, enabling independent manipulation of tools and endoscope, and dynamic tissue retraction to optimize the operative environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a traditional endoscopic approach is used, then the procedure is minimally invasive, but the working space is unstable and collapses around the target lesion
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor system is divided into multiple independent retractor elements (first retractor element, second retractor element, etc.) that can be individually controlled and positioned. Each element can be independently expanded or retracted to create and maintain a stable working space around the target tissue without requiring a single complex rigid structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractor elements are designed to be dynamically adjustable during the procedure. The system allows for real-time expansion and contraction of the working space by controlling the retraction degree of each element, enabling the working space to adapt to tissue movement and procedural needs while maintaining stability.
2Area of moving object
If the working space is expanded to provide more room for instruments, then instrument manipulation is improved, but the procedure becomes less minimally invasive
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor elements are designed as flexible, thin-walled structures that can be inserted through a catheter in a collapsed state and then expanded at the target site. This allows the working space to be significantly enlarged for instrument manipulation while the delivery system remains minimally invasive during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractor elements are nested within the catheter in a collapsed configuration during insertion, similar to a nested doll structure. Once positioned at the target tissue, the elements are deployed outward to create the expanded working space, allowing the large working area to be delivered through a small access point.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the retractor is made rigid to stabilize the working space, then visualization is improved, but the system loses flexibility for dynamic reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The retractor elements are designed to be dynamically adjustable during the procedure. The system allows for real-time expansion and contraction of the working space by controlling the retraction degree of each element, enabling the working space to adapt to tissue movement and procedural needs while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables change of physical parameters of the retractor elements, specifically their rigidity and expansion state. Each element can be adjusted between a collapsed flexible state for navigation and an expanded rigid state for stabilization, with the ability to dynamically transition between these states during the procedure.
4Ease of operation
If multiple lumens are added to the catheter for independent instrument manipulation, then the working space organization is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into multiple independent lumens, each capable of receiving and independently manipulating different instruments. This segmentation allows each instrument to be controlled separately while passing through the same catheter, improving ease of operation without requiring separate catheters for each instrument.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-lumen catheter serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a delivery system for multiple instruments, provides structural support for the retractor elements, and enables independent manipulation of each instrument through its respective lumen. This multi-functionality reduces the need for multiple separate devices.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
The present application relates to a floating, multi-lumen-catheter retractor system for ease of positioning in a subject for a minimally invasive treatment of the subject, the system comprising a highly flexible outer tube (805) configured for guiding a floating channel (810c) and a floating endoscope (815) in an at least substantially floating arrangement within the system, the flexible outer tube having a lumen, a proximal end, and a distal end; and, the floating channel serving as a guide through which a tool is manipulated in a treatment of a target tissue in a subject; and, a reversibly-expandable retractor (851) that expands to form a treatment space in the subject, the retractor configured for the expansion to (i) occur distal to the distal end of the outer tube and (ii) at least substantially render the target tissue aperistaltic for the treatment During a use of the system, the floating channel is (iii) at least substantially attached to the lumen of the outer tube at a first proximal location and a first distal location and (iv) at least substantially floating in the lumen of the outer tube between the first proximal location and the first distal location; the floating endoscope is (v) at least slidably-attached to the lumen of the outer tube at a second proximal location and a second distal location and (vi) at least substantially floating in the lumen of the outer tube between the second proximal location and second distal location; and, the floating arrangement (vii) at least substantially increases the flexibility of the system over a second such system, the second such system having a lumen for a tool and an endoscope affixed to the lumen throughout the length of the outer tube between the proximal end and the distal end of the outer tube; the increased flexibility of the floating arrangement facilitating an ease of positioning the system in the subject for the treatment of the target tissue.