Pericardial Valve Template for Accurate Suture Marking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing templates for forming aortic valves from pericardium require users to visually estimate suture positions, leading to potential inaccuracies due to skill limitations or misunderstandings of scale marks, which can affect the functionality of the valve cusp.
Innovation Solution
A template with distinct first and second holes, where first holes guide cutting lines and second holes indicate precise suture positions, ensuring marks are drawn at predetermined, accurate locations, with different shapes or sizes to differentiate start and suture positions, and including holes for marking commissure parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If scale marks are provided on the outside of the valve cusp base forming part for indicating suture positions, then the template can guide suturing, but users must visually estimate and determine suture allowance by eye, leading to potential positioning errors
Solution Approach 1:
The template divides the hole structure into two types: first holes with linear and arc parts for guiding cutting lines, and second holes at predetermined distances for marking suture positions. This segmentation allows users to draw marks at precise predetermined locations without visual estimation, resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The template acts as an intermediary tool between the pericardium and the surgeon. By providing pre-calculated hole positions for suture marks, the template eliminates the need for visual estimation and skill-based judgment, making the mark drawing process both precise and easy to perform.
2Device complexity
If the same holes are used for both cutting guidance and suture marking, then the template structure is simplified, but suture position accuracy cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The template segments the hole function into two distinct types: first holes for cutting guidance and second holes for suture marking. This segmentation ensures that suture position precision is maintained while keeping the overall template structure relatively simple and easy to manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
Different holes have different local qualities and functions. First holes have linear and arc parts optimized for cutting guidance, while second holes are positioned at predetermined distances optimized for accurate suture marking. This local differentiation ensures precision without excessive complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If users determine suture allowance by eye based on scale marks, then flexibility is maintained, but positioning accuracy decreases due to lack of skill or misunderstanding
Solution Approach 1:
The template performs preliminary action by pre-calculating and providing predetermined hole positions for suture marks. This eliminates the need for users to determine suture allowance by eye, ensuring reliable positioning while maintaining adaptability through the standardized hole patterns that can accommodate different valve sizes and configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The template serves itself by providing self-explanatory hole structures that automatically indicate correct suture positions. The second holes are positioned at predetermined distances from first holes, creating a self-guiding system that ensures reliable positioning without requiring user skill or judgment.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a template 1 including a plurality of forming parts 2 to accommodate various sizes of valve cusps to be formed from a pericardium. Each of the forming parts 2 includes a hole 10A and a hole 10B for drawing lines which indicate positions at which the pericardium taken from a patient is to be cut. Each of the forming parts 2 further includes a hole 11A, a plurality of holes 11B, holes 11C, and holes 11D for drawing marks that indicate positions at which a valve cusp material cut and formed from the pericardium is sutured to a blood vessel. The lines that indicate the cutting positions are drawn on the pericardium by moving a skin marker 5 along the holes 10A and 10B. The drawing of the marks corresponding to the suture positions at the hole 11A, the holes 11B, the holes 11C, and the holes 11D is carried out with the skin marker 5.