Pivotable Fenestrations for Endoluminal Prosthesis Branch Vessel Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoluminal prostheses often face challenges in accommodating branch vessels during vascular interventions, as they may block or hinder blood flow due to insufficient healthy tissue near branching vessels, especially in cases like the abdominal aorta with multiple major branch vessels.
Innovation Solution
An endoluminal prosthesis with pivotable fenestrations is designed, allowing for dynamic adjustment to accommodate branch vessels by having a tubular body with a valve replacement and stents, where the fenestrations can pivot away from the axis perpendicular to the prosthesis' longitudinal axis, enabling flexible placement of branch vessel prostheses without blocking blood flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standard endoluminal prosthesis is used to replace weakened or ruptured vascular passageways, then the main vessel patency is restored, but branch vessels may be blocked or hindered due to insufficient healthy tissue near branching vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is segmented into multiple functional components: a main tubular body for the primary vessel, and multiple fenestrations with pivotable flaps that can be independently activated. This segmentation allows the prosthesis to selectively open pathways to branch vessels only when needed, rather than being a fixed single-tube structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The fenestration flaps are designed to be pivotable rather than fixed, allowing dynamic adjustment of the prosthesis configuration. The flaps can rotate between blocking and open positions, enabling the device to adapt to varying anatomical conditions and blood flow requirements in different branch vessels.
2Reliability
If the prosthesis is designed to seal against the aortic wall near branch vessels, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but branch vessel blood flow is blocked due to lack of sufficient healthy tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis incorporates localized fenestrations with pivotable flaps at specific positions corresponding to branch vessel locations. Rather than uniformly sealing the entire prosthesis surface, the design creates localized openings with controllable access, allowing sealing in healthy tissue areas while maintaining access to branch vessels through the pivotable flap mechanism.
3Ease of manufacture
If fixed fenestrations are used in the prosthesis, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to varying anatomical positions of branch vessels is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The fenestration flaps are designed to be pivotable rather than fixed, allowing dynamic adjustment of the prosthesis configuration. The flaps can rotate between blocking and open positions, enabling the device to adapt to varying anatomical conditions and blood flow requirements in different branch vessels.
Data Source
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AI summary
An endoluminal prosthesis (200) comprises a graft having a tubular body comprising proximal and distal ends, and a valve replacement (260) disposed between the proximal and distal ends of the graft. At least one stent (216a) is coupled to the graft and has a contracted delivery state and an expanded state for maintaining patency within a portion of the graft. At least one fenestration (212a, 212b) is disposed in a sidewall of the graft at a location distal to the valve replacement. The at least one fenestration may be pivotable in any direction away from an axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the prosthesis.