Multi-Stent Guide Tube Deployment Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for deploying multiple stents in a lumen, such as the bile duct, often require removal of guide tubes and guidewires, complicating the procedure and limiting the ability to deploy additional stents without repositioning equipment.
Innovation Solution
A guide tube and stent configuration that allows for the simultaneous advancement and deployment of multiple stents within a lumen, using a guidewire-engaging portion and holes to constrain stent motion, enabling the deployment of a second stent alongside a first stent without removing the guide tube or guidewire, and utilizing locking mechanisms to prevent unintended motion during deployment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If guide tube and guidewire are removed after deploying the first stent, then the first stent deployment is completed, but the procedure becomes complicated and requires repositioning equipment for additional stents
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tube is equipped with multiple guidewire-engaging portions and holes at different positions before the procedure begins. These features are pre-configured to accommodate multiple stents, allowing the operator to deploy additional stents without removing or repositioning the guide tube. The locking mechanisms are also pre-installed to control stent motion during deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide tube is designed with multi-functionality to serve multiple purposes: it can engage multiple guidewires simultaneously through different guidewire-engaging portions, accommodate multiple stents at different locations, and provide locking mechanisms at various positions. This universal design eliminates the need for separate guide tubes or guidewires for each stent deployment.
2Reliability
If multiple stents are deployed using separate guide tubes and guidewires, then each stent can be deployed independently, but the procedure time increases and patient exposure to equipment manipulation increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple guidewire-engaging portions and holes are combined into a single guide tube structure. This merging allows multiple stents to be deployed through one guide tube simultaneously, reducing the number of separate equipment manipulations required and shortening the overall procedure time while maintaining independent control over each stent deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide tube is segmented into multiple functional zones with distinct guidewire-engaging portions and holes at different locations. Each segment can independently engage a guidewire and control a specific stent deployment, allowing simultaneous or sequential deployment of multiple stents without interfering with each other.
3Manufacturing precision
If locking mechanisms are added to constrain stent motion, then unintended motion during deployment is prevented, but the device structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanisms are designed to be self-activating or easily operable by the operator without requiring additional complex systems. The mechanisms utilize the existing guidewire and stent structure to provide locking action, converting simple operational movements into precise positioning control without adding substantial structural complexity to the guide tube.
Data Source
AI summary
A guide tube (220) has a guidewire-engaging portion (222) at a distal portion (260) thereof, a first stent (54) surrounding the guide tube, advanceable together with the guide tube into a subject's lumen, a guidewire (12) arranged (i) entering the guide tube from a distal-end (320) opening thereof, (ii) disposed in the guidewire-engaging portion, and (iii) passing out of the guide tube proximally to the guidewire-engaging portion, and a second stent (54), proximal to the first stent, surrounding a proximal portion (240) of the guide tube and the guidewire. The first stent is slidably deployable off the distal end of the guide tube upon the guidewire having laterally exited the guidewire-engaging portion, and the second stent is slidably deployable off the distal end of the guide tube subsequently to deployment of the first stent, without the guidewire having been moved proximally. Other applications are also described.