Needle Guide and Tissue Approximation for Lumen-Sparing Suturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing needle-based tissue piercing methods often penetrate the lumen of hollow organs, compromising their integrity and sterility, especially during procedures like rectopexy for rectal prolapse.
Innovation Solution
A tissue-pexy system comprising a needle guide and a tissue manipulator, where the needle guide has a cavity to allow the needle to pierce the tissue without traversing its full thickness, and the tissue manipulator approximates the tissue to the needle guide, ensuring the needle path crosses the same surface multiple times without entering the organ lumen.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a needle is used to pierce tissue for introducing devices or substances, then the tissue can be accessed or secured, but the needle may penetrate the full thickness of the tissue including the lumen of hollow organs, compromising their integrity and sterility
Solution Approach 1:
The needle guide is positioned and the tissue is approximated to the needle guide before needle insertion. This preliminary positioning ensures that the needle will only pierce the external surface of the tissue and not penetrate through to the lumen, thus preventing compromise of integrity and sterility while still achieving effective tissue securing
Solution Approach 2:
The needle guide acts as an intermediary device between the needle and the tissue. It controls the needle's path and depth of penetration, ensuring that the needle only pierces the external surface of the tissue without penetrating the full thickness or entering the lumen of hollow organs, thus preventing harmful lumen penetration while maintaining effective tissue securing
2Ease of operation
If the needle guide opening is positioned proximal to the tissue, then the needle can be directed into the tissue, but the needle may traverse the full thickness of the tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The needle guide serves as an intermediary structure that receives the needle at its opening and directs it along a controlled path. The guide's internal geometry and the approximation of tissue to the guide ensure that the needle penetrates only to the appropriate depth (piercing the external surface without traversing full thickness), thus maintaining ease of operation while achieving precise penetration control
Solution Approach 2:
The tissue is preliminarily approximated to the needle guide before needle insertion. This preliminary action establishes the correct spatial relationship between the tissue and needle guide, ensuring that when the needle is inserted, it will pierce the tissue at the correct depth without traversing the full thickness, thus achieving precise penetration control while maintaining ease of operation
Data Source
AI summary
A system, including a needle guide defining a path of travel of a needle inserted through the guide, and a tissue manipulator configured to approximate tissue and said needle guide and to position at least a portion of the tissue in the path of travel of the needle, and wherein the tissue manipulator and the needle guide are alignable such that the path of travel crosses a same surface of the tissue a plurality of times.