Real-Time Needle Control With Staged Advancement and Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for sampling tissue within a body using elongated instruments are inadequate in ensuring secure and damage-free conveyance and manipulation of instruments, particularly due to issues with fluid leakage and potential damage during insertion and extraction.
Innovation Solution
A control system is developed that includes a coupling with bushings and sealing members to prevent fluid leakage, a locking mechanism for secure attachment, and actuators for controlled extension and retraction of elongated instruments, along with anti-buckling devices for stability, enabling precise sampling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If elongated instruments are conveyed through insertion devices without proper sealing, then the sampling procedure can be performed, but fluid leakage occurs causing loss of substance and potential contamination
Solution Approach 1:
A bushing is introduced as an intermediary component between the elongated instrument and the insertion device port. The bushing provides a sealed interface that prevents fluid leakage while allowing the instrument to pass through, resolving the contradiction between maintaining sampling functionality and preventing substance loss.
Solution Approach 2:
Sealing members in the form of flexible membranes or films are used to create seals around the elongated instrument. These flexible sealing elements conform to the instrument surface and prevent fluid leakage without restricting the instrument's movement or sampling function.
2Stability of the object's composition
If elongated instruments are manipulated without proper support, then the device structure remains simple, but the instruments may buckle or deform causing loss of shape and sampling failure
Solution Approach 1:
Disposable protective sheaths or support structures are used that are simple, single-use components providing temporary support to the elongated instrument during insertion and sampling. These inexpensive, disposable elements prevent buckling without requiring complex reusable support mechanisms.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the elongated instrument is secured tightly in the port, then the instrument remains stable during manipulation, but the insertion and extraction process becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling mechanism between the bushing and port is designed to be dynamic rather than fixed. The bushing can be easily inserted and removed, providing stable instrument positioning during the sampling procedure while allowing simple insertion and extraction operations. The seal maintains stability when needed but permits easy manipulation during transitions.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments include apparatuses, systems, and methods for controlling advancement of a needle deployed through a control system. In an illustrative embodiment, a needle actuator is configured to be fixably coupled to a proximal end of a needle. A first release device is movably coupled to the needle actuator and is engageable to release the needle actuator to move from a retracted position to a ready position where the distal end of the needle is adjacent the distal end of the sheath. A second release device is movably coupled to the needle actuator and is engageable to release the needle actuator to move from the ready position to a sampling position where the distal end of the needle is advanceable into tissue to be sampled.