Penile Prosthetic Channel Preserving Vascularized Tissue
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current penile prosthetics for erectile dysfunction often require significant dilation of healthy tissue, which can lead to reduced vascularization and less natural erections, as they lack a mechanism to maintain and utilize existing vascularized tissue effectively.
Innovation Solution
An implantable penile prosthetic insert with a bio-compatible body featuring a channel that is more resistant to deformation, allowing it to maintain vascularized tissue and transition between flaccid and erect states, minimizing tissue dilation and incorporating a reinforcing layer and tissue ingrowth promoting materials for improved blood flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If significant dilation of healthy tissue is performed to implant traditional penile prosthetics, then the prosthetic can be successfully implanted, but vascularization is reduced and tissue trauma increases
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthetic body is segmented into different regions with different properties: a deformable portion for natural compression during flaccid state, and a non-deformable portion (channel) that maintains structural integrity and protects vascularized tissue. This segmentation allows the prosthetic to be implanted without requiring significant dilation while preserving healthy tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The prosthetic incorporates a channel with specific local quality characteristics - it is more resistant to deformation than surrounding portions of the body. This local non-deformable region is strategically positioned to maintain vascularized tissue and allow blood flow, while other portions remain deformable for natural function.
2Ease of operation
If traditional penile prosthetics are implanted without preserving vascularized tissue, then implantation is simpler, but the quality and natural feeling of erections is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The channel is pre-formed in the prosthetic body before implantation, creating a protected pathway for vascularized tissue. This preliminary structure allows surgeons to implant the device without extensive tissue manipulation while ensuring that blood flow pathways are preserved from the outset, maintaining natural erection quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel acts as an intermediary structure between the prosthetic body and the surrounding vascularized tissue. It provides a protected corridor that maintains blood flow and vascularization, mediating between the mechanical prosthetic and the biological tissue to ensure natural function.
3Ease of operation
If the prosthetic body is fully deformable to allow natural compression, then natural feeling is improved, but the structure cannot maintain channels for blood flow
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthetic body is divided into deformable and non-deformable segments. The deformable portions allow natural compression during flaccid state for natural feeling, while the non-deformable channel segment maintains structural stability to preserve blood flow pathways. This segmentation resolves the contradiction between flexibility and structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The prosthetic incorporates composite construction with regions of different mechanical properties - softer, more compliant materials in deformable portions and harder, more rigid materials in the channel region. This composite approach allows simultaneous achievement of natural compression capability and channel stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of providing a patient with an implanted penile prosthetic adapted to provide improved flow of blood to a glans penis dilating a first portion of tissue in the corpora cavernosum and creating a first space and leaving a segment of vascularized tissue in the corpora cavernosum un-dilated and undisturbed, and engaging a channel formed in an exterior surface of a penile prosthetic with the segment of vascularized tissue.