Segmented Catheter Balloon Dynamics for Brachytherapy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current catheters for brachytherapy face challenges in accurately delivering radiation to tumors while minimizing exposure to normal tissues, particularly due to variations in tumor shape and size, leading to side effects and operational difficulties such as discomfort, bleeding, and inaccurate dosing.
Innovation Solution
A catheter apparatus with multiple fluid-flow pipe members and node members that form segments, allowing for individual inflation and deflation of periphery members to conform to the tumor shape, reducing radiation exposure to normal tissues and improving fixation without external balloons or guide wires.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the catheter is thickened to centralize the radioactive source, then the source placement accuracy is improved, but the catheter wall rubs against the esophageal wall causing bleeding and discomfort
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into multiple segments with independent inflatable balloons at different positions. Each segment can be individually expanded to provide localized support and centralization without requiring the entire catheter to be thickened, thereby avoiding wall rubbing while maintaining source placement accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter transitions from a static thickened structure to a dynamic structure where balloons can be inflated and deflated as needed. This allows the catheter to adapt its shape and support characteristics to match the treatment requirements and esophageal geometry, providing centralization only where and when needed.
2Ease of operation
If the entire catheter section is thickened to keep the body cavity open, then the radioactive source delivery is facilitated, but more normal tissue areas are irradiated resulting in side effects
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is segmented into multiple sections with independent balloons that can be selectively inflated. This allows the body cavity to be kept open only in the specific regions where radioactive source delivery is needed, rather than thickening the entire catheter section, thereby minimizing irradiation of normal tissues.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of uniformly thickening the entire catheter, the invention applies localized thickening through inflatable balloons only at specific segments. This creates non-uniform structural properties where support and cavity opening are provided only where required for source delivery, leaving other regions thin to minimize normal tissue exposure.
3Device complexity
If a catheter with entire section thickened and without undulation is used, then the radioactive source placement is simplified, but the catheter slips due to poor fixation
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into multiple segments with balloons that can be independently inflated to create fixation points along the catheter length. These segmented fixation points provide stable anchoring in the esophagus without requiring the entire catheter to have complex undulating structures, thus maintaining simplicity while improving stability.
4Stability of the object's composition
If external balloons are added to the catheter for fixation, then the catheter stability is improved, but the balloons rub against the body cavity wall causing discomfort and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The balloons are integrated within the catheter structure rather than being external additions. The balloons are positioned inside or as part of the catheter wall, eliminating the need for external attachments that would rub against the body cavity wall, thereby providing fixation stability without causing discomfort or damage.
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 catheter apparatus enhances radiation delivery accuracy, reduces side effects, and simplifies the treatment process by allowing precise adjustment of the radioactive source placement, maintaining it centered and reducing the need for repeated operations, thus improving treatment efficacy and patient comfort.
Implementation Method 1
a periphery member, wherein the multiple node members are wrapped by the periphery member to form a space with the segment formed between the two adjacent node members
Implementation Method 2
transporting the radioactive source into the catheter with the after-loading brachytherapy instrument, so that the radiation emitted by the radioactive source is closely irradiated to the tumor area. The high-energy radiation, transferred in the form of light wave or high-speed particle, will destroy the tumor cells
Data Source
AI summary
A catheter apparatus (10) includes a tubular member (11); multiple fluid-flow pipe members (13), each having a proximal end (19) and a distal end (18), and being disposed along a first axial direction of the tubular member; multiple node members (15) disposed along a first axial direction of the tubular member, wherein two adjacent node members (15) form a segment (1a); and a periphery member (14), wherein the periphery member (14) wraps the multiple node members (15) to form a space (1b) with the segment (1a) formed between the two adjacent node members (15). The catheter apparatus (10) can irradiate the entire diffuse tumor during one brachytherapy process without repeated placement of the catheter. Meanwhile, it can be smoothly inserted into the patient's narrow body cavity because there are no external balloons. A brachytherapy system adopts the catheter apparatus (10).