Pusher Arm and Bulbous Element for Embolic Coil Detachment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current embolic coil deployment methods lack precise control over coil positioning and face challenges with reliable detachment, often requiring complex and costly mechanisms, and coils are difficult to reposition or retrieve once deployed.
Innovation Solution
A catheter system with a pusher assembly and constraining element, featuring a bulbous element and distal receiving element, allows for precise control and 100% reliable detachment of embolic coils, minimizing size and cost trade-offs, while enabling repositioning or retrieval of the coils.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mechanical coupling or electrolytically severable link is used for coil detachment, then detachment reliability improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the detachment function from complex mechanical or electrolytic mechanisms and implements it through a simple pusher arm-bulbous element interaction. The pusher arm is designed with specific geometry (width less than the bulbous element's diameter) to enable automatic detachment when the pusher arm is retracted, eliminating the need for additional detachment mechanisms while achieving 100% detachment reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The detachment mechanism operates autonomously through the geometric relationship between the pusher arm and bulbous element. When the pusher arm is retracted, the coil automatically detaches due to the size mismatch between the pusher arm width and bulbous element diameter, without requiring external activation or complex control systems.
2Device complexity
If a traditional pusher deployment method is used, then device simplicity is maintained, but coil positioning precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The pusher arm is designed as a movable component that can be dynamically retracted to achieve coil detachment. This dynamic movement allows for controlled coil placement followed by automatic release, improving positioning precision while maintaining overall device simplicity. The pusher arm's retraction creates a clear separation between the delivery system and the deployed coil.
3Reliability
If the pusher arm width is reduced to enable detachment, then detachment reliability improves, but mechanical interference during delivery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pusher arm is designed with non-uniform cross-sectional dimensions, specifically with a width in the radial direction that is less than the diameter of the bulbous element. This localized dimensional variation enables the pusher arm to pass through the constraining element during delivery while allowing automatic detachment when retracted, resolving the conflict between detachment reliability and mechanical interference.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure concerns release mechanisms for medical implants, particularly embolic coils and the like, which utilize bulbous elements and receiving elements to constrain the bulbous elements. In some cases, the receiving elements are sized and shaped to help constrain the bulbous element axially and/or radially, and may work in concert with constraining elements and/or release wires that are optionally moveable independently of the receiving elements.