Partial Stent with Arc Ribs for Aneurysm Neck Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for cerebral aneurysms, such as clipping and coil embolization, are invasive and carry risks of rupture and stroke due to potential dislodgment of coils or clots, necessitating a less invasive and more effective method to prevent rupture and maintain blood flow.
Innovation Solution
A partial stent with an arc-shaped design and flexible backbone, featuring offset long ribs and short ribs with barbs, is delivered via catheter and expanded at the aneurysm site to anchor and cover the neck of the aneurysm, preventing blood flow into the aneurysm without obstructing vessel bifurcations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If wire coils are used to fill the aneurysm, then the aneurysm is blocked from circulation and blood clots, but the coils may become dislodged and enter the vasculature causing stroke
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a delivery catheter as an intermediary device that guides and deposits coils precisely within the aneurysm sac. The catheter acts as a mediator between the coil delivery system and the aneurysm, ensuring coils are placed accurately and remain contained within the aneurysm boundaries, preventing dislodgment into the vasculature while maintaining effective isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible catheter shaft with a distal balloon that can be inflated to compress coils against the aneurysm wall. This flexible structure allows precise positioning and controlled deployment of coils, ensuring they are firmly anchored within the aneurysm sac and cannot dislodge, while the flexibility enables navigation through tortuous vasculature.
2Reliability
If clipping is performed to isolate the aneurysm, then the aneurysm is isolated from the vasculature, but highly invasive surgical intervention through the skull is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical clipping system (which requires craniotomy and direct surgical access to the brain) with a minimally invasive endovascular delivery system. The catheter-based coil delivery system navigates through the bloodstream to reach the aneurysm, eliminating the need for skull penetration and direct surgical manipulation, thereby substituting a less invasive mechanical approach while achieving the same isolation effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery catheter serves as an intermediary that transports coils to the aneurysm site through the bloodstream, avoiding the need for direct surgical access to the brain. This intermediary approach allows the treatment to be performed through a peripheral vascular access point rather than through the skull, dramatically reducing surgical invasiveness while maintaining effective aneurysm isolation.
3Ease of manufacture
If treatment is delayed until after aneurysm rupture, then the consequences of rupture can be addressed, but prevention of rupture and its potentially-fatal consequences is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables preliminary action by allowing coil delivery and aneurysm isolation to be performed before rupture occurs. The minimally invasive catheter-based system can be deployed through peripheral access, making it feasible to treat unruptured aneurysms prophylactically. This preliminary intervention prevents rupture and its catastrophic consequences, while the relative simplicity of the endovascular approach keeps treatment complexity manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
A partial stent may include a backbone and arcuate ribs extending from that backbone; where the ribs have shapes and lengths, and are positioned relative to the backbone, such that when the partial stent is viewed from an end, the ribs collectively define an open arc. A partial stent may include at least one barb extending outward therefrom. The partial stent may be used for treating an aneurysm in a blood vessel, such as a cerebral aneurysm. The partial stent may be placed in the blood vessel adjacent the neck of the aneurysm such that the partial stent substantially covers the neck of the aneurysm.