Protective Sleeve Suturing for Tissue Openings With Tethers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for closing tissue openings during medical procedures often cause damage to tethers or medical devices extending through these openings, necessitating improved suturing techniques to maintain hemostasis and protect these components.
Innovation Solution
A suture system utilizing curved double arm needles and a needle manipulating instrument to align and orient needles for precise stitching, combined with a protective sleeve to shield tethers, and a flexible elongate tube to surround the opening and anchor sutures or tethers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional suturing methods are used to close tissue openings, then hemostasis can be maintained, but damage occurs to tethers or medical devices extending through the openings
Solution Approach 1:
A protective sleeve is introduced as an intermediary component between the suture and the tether. The sleeve is positioned within the tissue opening to surround and protect the tether while the suture is passed through the tissue and around the opening. This mediator allows the suture to close the tissue opening effectively while preventing direct contact and damage to the tether.
2Productivity
If conventional stitching patterns are used around the opening, then the opening can be closed, but the stitching causes damage to tethers extending through the opening
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve is positioned within the tissue opening and around the tether before the suturing process begins. This preliminary positioning ensures that when the suture is passed through the tissue and tightened to close the opening, the tether is already protected and will not be damaged by the stitching process.
3Reliability
If multiple sutures are placed to ensure complete closure of the opening, then hemostasis is improved, but the complexity of the suturing procedure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sleeve serves multiple functions simultaneously: it protects the tether from damage, provides a structural framework for passing the suture around the opening, and helps maintain the suture in proper position during tightening. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components or complex suturing techniques to achieve complete closure while maintaining hemostasis.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for deployment of a protective sleeve can comprise a flexible elongate tube configured to be inserted into an opening in a target tissue and be collapsible around a longitudinal axis. The flexible elongate tube can comprise a lumen extending therethrough, wherein, when the flexible elongate tube is disposed in the opening in the target tissue, the lumen of the flexible elongate tube is configured to receive at least one tether extending through the opening in the target tissue. The system can include a deployment applicator configured to deploy the flexible elongate tube into the opening in the target tissue, the deployment applicator comprising an elongate tube engagement component associated with a distal portion, wherein the engagement component is configured to be received within the lumen of the flexible elongate tube.