Self-Expandable Vascular Stent with Segmented Cells
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current devices for treating vasculature and bodily ducts, such as stents and flow diverters, are inadequate for effectively addressing aneurysms, stenoses, and embolic obstructions, requiring improved methods and devices for deployment and retrieval within the body.
Innovation Solution
A self-expandable vascular treatment device with a plurality of cell structures that transition from a compact delivery position to a radially expanded position, featuring a proximal end portion with reduced circumferential cell structures and a cylindrical main body portion with circumferentially extending cells, allowing for deployment and retrieval within bodily ducts or vasculature, and a method involving a delivery catheter and elongate flexible wire for navigating and engaging embolic obstructions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a self-expandable member with circumferential cell structures is used to treat vasculature, then the device can engage and remove obstructions effectively, but the device cannot be delivered through tortuous anatomy due to its rigid expanded structure
Solution Approach 1:
The self-expandable member is divided into multiple cell structures arranged circumferentially around the longitudinal axis. These segmented cells allow the device to flex and conform to tortuous vascular paths during delivery, while still providing sufficient radial force for effective obstruction engagement when deployed
Solution Approach 2:
The cell structures are designed to transition dynamically from a compressed delivery configuration to an expanded treatment configuration. This dynamic transformation allows the device to navigate tortuous anatomy in its compressed state and engage obstructions effectively in its expanded state
2Reliability
If the self-expandable member is designed with a large expanded diameter for effective obstruction removal, then treatment efficacy is improved, but the device cannot be retracted into a delivery catheter
Solution Approach 1:
The self-expandable member is designed to nest within itself and within the delivery catheter during delivery and retrieval. The cell structures can be compressed into a compact configuration that fits within the catheter lumen, while maintaining the capability to expand to a large diameter for effective treatment
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates dynamic compression and expansion capabilities that allow it to transition between a large expanded diameter for treatment and a compact compressed diameter for retrieval. This dynamic behavior enables the device to perform effective obstruction removal while still being retrievable through the delivery system
3Strength
If the cell structures extend circumferentially around the entire longitudinal axis, then radial support is maximized, but the device cannot be compressed to a small delivery profile
Solution Approach 1:
The circumferential cell structures are segmented and arranged in a pattern that allows them to provide radial support when expanded while enabling compression to a small profile during delivery. The segmented design permits the cells to fold and compress without compromising their radial support capability when deployed
Solution Approach 2:
The cell structures are designed with flexible walls that can bend and compress during delivery while maintaining structural integrity. This flexibility allows the device to be compressed to a small delivery profile while still providing adequate radial support when expanded for treatment
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 deployment and retrieval of embolic obstructions by expanding within the vasculature to engage and remove obstructions, while its design allows for navigation through tortuous anatomy and retraction into a catheter, enhancing treatment efficacy and safety.
Implementation Method 1
an elongate self-expandable member movable from a first delivery position to a second placement position, in the first delivery position the expandable member being in an unexpanded position and having a nominal first diameter and in the second position the expandable member being in a radially expanded position and having a second nominal diameter greater than the first nominal diameter
Data Source
AI summary
Devices including, but not limited to, a self-expandable member having a proximal end portion and a main body portion. The self-expandable member is movable from a first delivery position to a second placement position, in the first delivery position the expandable member being in an unexpanded position and having a nominal first diameter and in the second position the expandable member being in a radially expanded position and having a second nominal diameter greater than the first nominal diameter for deployment within a vessel or duct of a patient. The expandable member includes a plurality of cell structures with the cell structures in the main body portion extending circumferentially around a longitudinal axis of the expandable member and the cell structures in the proximal end portion extending less than circumferentially around the longitudinal axis of the expandable member.