Radially Expandable Tissue Retraction Device for Lung Volume Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current lung volume reduction methods are invasive, destructive to the airway, and associated with complications such as bleeding and tissue trauma, lacking reversibility and retrievability.
Innovation Solution
A radially expandable tissue retraction device with atraumatic fixation elements connected by a tether, allowing for secure lung volume reduction without causing significant tissue damage, featuring self-expanding properties and a design that minimizes trauma and bleeding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional thoracic surgery or invasive ILVR methods are used to achieve lung volume reduction, then effective volume reduction is achieved, but tissue trauma, bleeding, and airway damage occur
Solution Approach 1:
The fixation elements use a flexible tubular structure with radial expandability, allowing the device to conform to tissue surfaces without piercing or damaging them. The tubular body can expand to engage tissue externally while maintaining structural integrity, achieving secure fixation without the need for invasive piercing anchors that cause tissue trauma and bleeding.
2Strength
If traditional piercing anchors are used for fixation, then secure anchoring is achieved, but airway tearing and puncturing occur
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using piercing anchors that penetrate tissue from the inside out, the invention inverts the approach by using external fixation elements that engage tissue from the outside. The radially expandable tubular structure compresses tissue externally to achieve anchoring, reversing the traditional invasive piercing method and eliminating airway puncturing and tearing.
3Reliability
If permanent ILVR devices are implanted to achieve lung volume reduction, then volume reduction is achieved, but reversibility and retrievability are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The fixation elements incorporate a shape memory alloy or superelastic material that allows the device to transition between compressed and expanded states. This dynamic property enables the device to be deployed in a compressed state, expand to fixed state for lung volume reduction, and potentially be compressed again for retrieval, providing reversibility and adaptability not found in permanent rigid devices.
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
The device enables effective and reversible lung volume reduction with reduced invasiveness, minimizing tissue trauma and bleeding, and allowing for potential retrieval, thereby improving patient safety and quality of life.
Implementation Method 1
Each fixation element is a radially expandable device, which includes a tubular configuration when compressed, but in expanded state the first and second ends of the tube move toward each other and the central region of the tube expands radially to form struts
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6~7
AI summary
A device and method for reducing the volume of a tissue region, the device including a first fixation element, a second fixation element, and a tethering device, where the first and second fixation elements are slidably secured onto said tether, and the first and second fixation elements are radially self-expanding fixation elements.