Rotating Inner Core Catheter for Precise Tissue Penetration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical devices, such as catheters, face challenges in accurately penetrating body tissues without causing damage or overshooting, especially when navigating through obstructing tissues, due to the lack of precision and the risk of incidental contact with vital organs.
Innovation Solution
A medical device with an inner core and imager that rotates radially to locate and penetrate body tissues, allowing for precise imaging and controlled penetration, reducing the risk of damage and overshooting by creating an opening for the catheter to pass through.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a piercing instrument such as a needle is used to penetrate tissue, then the catheter can be advanced through the tissue, but the system risks overshooting and damaging body tissue or vital organs
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system is activated before penetration to identify and map vital organs and tissue structures in advance. This preliminary imaging allows the operator to plan the penetration path to avoid critical structures, thereby reducing the risk of overshooting and tissue damage while maintaining the ability to advance the catheter through the target tissue.
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging system provides real-time feedback during the penetration process, allowing continuous monitoring of the catheter's position relative to surrounding tissues and organs. This feedback mechanism enables dynamic adjustment of the penetration depth and direction, preventing overshooting and minimizing damage to vital structures while ensuring successful catheter advancement.
2Ease of operation
If a drilling instrument is used to penetrate tissue, then the catheter can be advanced through the tissue, but the system is very inaccurate and can easily damage other tissues within the body
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system performs preliminary scanning and mapping of the tissue anatomy before penetration begins. This pre-imaging establishes precise spatial coordinates of the target site and surrounding structures, enabling accurate navigation and controlled penetration while avoiding adjacent tissues, thereby significantly improving penetration accuracy compared to blind drilling methods.
Solution Approach 2:
Real-time imaging feedback continuously monitors the catheter's position and orientation during penetration. This feedback allows for precise control of the penetration depth and angle, ensuring the catheter reaches the target location accurately while preventing damage to surrounding tissues through immediate detection of proximity to critical structures.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the penetrating instrument is incorporated into the catheter along with other medical or imaging devices, then the catheter is fully functional, but the system is encumbered by the penetrating instrument
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter system is divided into modular components: the imaging system, the penetrating instrument, and the catheter body are separable elements that can be assembled and disassembled independently. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while reducing overall system complexity, as the penetrating instrument can be attached only when needed and removed afterward, eliminating the burden of permanently incorporating it into the catheter structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical system is a medical device, such as a catheter, that includes an inner core and an imager that is extendable from within an elongated tubular member and configured to penetrate a body tissue within a living body. The elongated tubular member has a distal end and is configured to slideably receive the inner core. The distal end is further configured to allow the inner core to advance outside the elongated member. The inner core has a distal end and is configured to rotate radially around a longitudinal axis of the elongated member. The device can further include an imager located at the distal end of the inner core, and the imager can be configured to image a body tissue and output an image signal to an imaging system communicatively coupled with the imager. The imaging system is configured to generate an image of the body tissue from the image signal of the imager when the imager is rotated and placed into contact with the body tissue such that the imager penetrates the body tissue.