Nasal Delivery Device Boring Element for Palatine Canal Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for accessing and delivering therapeutic agents to the palatine canal and pterygopalatine fossa are complex and pose risks of damaging sphenopalatine and palatine arteries, with limited reliability and safety concerns due to the difficulty in accessing these anatomical regions.
Innovation Solution
A delivery device with an elongated shaft and a boring element is used to create a passage through the palatine bone, allowing for direct access to the palatine canal, which can be used to deliver therapeutic agents such as anesthetics, using a fluid stream or needle to penetrate the bone and navigate to the target area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fluid stream or needle is used to penetrate the palatine bone to create a passage, then direct access to the palatine canal is achieved, but the complexity of the procedure and risk of damaging blood vessels increase
Solution Approach 1:
The delivery device is divided into distinct functional segments: an elongated shaft for navigation, a boring element for bone penetration, and a therapeutic agent delivery mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while reducing overall procedural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The boring element acts as an intermediary tool that creates a controlled passage through the palatine bone, serving as a safe intermediary pathway between the external delivery device and the target palatine canal, thereby reducing direct risk to blood vessels.
2Ease of operation
If topical application or submucosal injection is used to deliver therapeutic agents, then the procedure is simpler, but the control and reliability of pain and bleeding management are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The boring element creates a pre-established controlled pathway through the bone before therapeutic agent delivery, ensuring accurate positioning and reliable drug deposition at the target site, which improves pain control reliability while maintaining procedural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the unreliable diffusion-based mechanical spreading of topical agents with a controlled mechanical boring system that directly delivers therapeutic agents to the precise anatomical location, significantly improving reliability.
3Reliability
If injection near the sphenopalatine foramen is performed to create a large bleb, then some pain control is achieved, but the spreading of agents is insufficient for widespread control
Solution Approach 1:
The boring element creates a three-dimensional passage through the palatine bone, allowing therapeutic agents to be delivered not just at a surface level but deep into the palatine canal and pterygopalatine fossa, achieving widespread control in multiple anatomical dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The device enables different concentrations and types of therapeutic agents to be delivered to specific local regions (palatine canal vs. pterygopalatine fossa) through the same boring passage, allowing optimized pain control for different anatomical structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method provides more reliable and safer delivery of therapeutic agents to the palatine canal and pterygopalatine fossa, reducing the risk of accidental injection into blood vessels and improving control over pain and bleeding during nasal cavity procedures.
Implementation Method 1
using a fluid stream or needle to penetrate the bone and navigate to the target area
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 1C
Figure 2
AI summary
In an example, a method for delivery of a therapeutic agent to at least one of a palatine canal or a pterygopalatine fossa of a patient is described. The method includes inserting a delivery device into a nasal cavity of a patient. The delivery device includes an elongated shaft with a proximal end and a distal end, a handpiece coupled to the proximal end of the elongated shaft, and a boring element disposed on the distal end of the elongated shaft. The method also includes advancing the distal end of the elongated shaft to a position proximate to a palatine bone within the nasal cavity, actuating the boring element to form a passage in the palatine bone between the nasal cavity and a palatine canal of the patient, and delivering a therapeutic agent into the palatine canal.