Pivoting Deployment Struts for Endovascular Device Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endovascular devices face challenges in proper deployment and positioning, especially in curved and tortuous vessels like the thoracic aorta, due to unintended longitudinal motion and potential leakage or blockage of major branch arteries during deployment.
Innovation Solution
A channeled dilator tip with deployment struts that pivotally extend to secure the endovascular device, allowing for precise orientation and positioning, minimizing blood leakage and preventing collapse, and featuring shape memory materials for self-expansion and retraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If trigger wires are used for selective release and deployment of endograft portions, then deployment control is improved, but unintended longitudinal motion occurs causing shifting and potential leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The endograft is divided into multiple deployable portions (first endograft portion and second endograft portion) that can be deployed separately at different locations along the vessel. Each portion can be independently controlled and positioned, allowing precise deployment without unintended motion affecting the entire device.
Solution Approach 2:
A dilator tip with deployment struts is introduced as an intermediary tool to assist in the deployment process. The deployment struts pivotally extend from the dilator tip to engage with the endograft portions, providing controlled expansion and positioning while preventing unwanted longitudinal motion during deployment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If endograft is deployed in curved and tortuous vessels like thoracic aorta, then treatment coverage is improved, but proper positioning and orientation become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment struts are designed with pivotal joints that allow dynamic adjustment of their orientation and position. This dynamic capability enables the struts to adapt to curved and tortuous vessel anatomy while maintaining precise control over endograft positioning, allowing the device to conform to complex vessel shapes without compromising placement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The dilator tip with deployment struts is positioned and configured in advance before endograft deployment. The struts are pre-oriented to engage with specific portions of the endograft, ensuring that when deployment occurs, the device is already positioned correctly relative to the vessel anatomy, even in curved sections like the thoracic aorta.
3Productivity
If endograft is deployed without proper orientation control, then deployment speed is improved, but leakage and blockage of major branch arteries occur
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment process incorporates real-time feedback through the pivotal deployment struts that provide tactile and visual indication of endograft positioning status. As the struts pivot and engage with the endograft portions, the operator receives feedback about the deployment state, allowing for immediate correction of orientation issues and prevention of leakage or blockage while maintaining efficient deployment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables accurate placement and adjustment of endovascular devices, reducing the risk of leakage and blockage, while maintaining proper alignment and preventing unwanted motion post-deployment.
Implementation Method 1
The deployment struts may be made of a shape memory material and are configured to have a memory of the longitudinal orientation
Data Source
AI summary
A dilator tip (100) for deploying and positioning an endovascular device (570) at a treatment site includes an elongate body (105) having at least two substantially longitudinal channels (110) in an outer surface (105s) of the body and at least two deployment struts (115). Each deployment strut (115) has a free end (120) releasably attached to a proximal edge (575) of an endovascular device (570) to be deployed, a constrained end (125) restrained within one of the longitudinal channels (110), and a pivot portion (130) between the free end (120) and the constrained end (125). In an undeployed configuration of the dilator tip (100), the free ends (120) reside within the longitudinal channels (110), and in a deployed configuration of the dilator tip (100), the free ends (120) are pivotally extended away from the longitudinal channels (110) by way of the pivot portions (130).