Segmented Intermediate Catheter for Tortuous Artery Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mechanical thrombectomy procedures for acute ischemic strokes are labor-intensive due to the difficulty in navigating the tortuous cerebral and coronary arteries, with guide catheters being too stiff and large to pass through the aortic arch and middle cerebral artery, leading to challenges in reaching and treating lesions effectively.
Innovation Solution
An intermediate catheter with varying flexibility along its length, featuring distinct cut patterns on its exterior surface and an atraumatic tip, designed to navigate narrow brain vasculature quickly and facilitate clot aspiration, is used in conjunction with a guide catheter and a push wire to assist in thrombectomy procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a guide catheter is used to navigate the aortic arch and cerebral arteries, then the operator can reach the target artery, but the guide catheter is too stiff and large to pass through the tortuous arteries
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into multiple sections with different flexibility characteristics. The intermediate catheter has a proximal section that is more flexible for navigating tortuous arteries and a distal section that is stiffer for maintaining position and delivering the thrombectomy device, resolving the contradiction between overall stiffness and navigability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the catheter have different mechanical properties. The intermediate catheter features varying wall thickness and material composition along its length, with the proximal portion being more compliant for navigation and the distal portion being stiffer for support, allowing each section to perform its specific function optimally.
2Productivity
If the intermediate catheter has varying flexibility along its length, then it can navigate narrow vasculature quickly, but the catheter structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter's flexibility parameter is varied continuously along its length by changing wall thickness and material properties, rather than using discrete segments. This allows the catheter to adapt to different vessel geometries and navigate quickly while maintaining a relatively simple single-tube structure.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the catheter tip is made atraumatic to protect vasculature, then vessel damage is prevented, but the catheter tip becomes less effective at engaging and removing clots
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate catheter serves as a mediator between the guide catheter and the thrombectomy device. Its atraumatic tip protects the vasculature during navigation, while still providing a stable platform for deploying and operating the thrombectomy device, which performs the actual clot engagement and removal function.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a catheter (100) including a first end (102), a second end (104), and a lumen (106) extending from the first end to the second end. The catheter has a first portion (108) arranged at the first end, a second portion (110) arranged adjacent to the first portion, and a third portion (112) arranged adjacent to the second portion. The first portion of the catheter has a first cut pattern in an exterior surface of the catheter, and the second portion of the catheter has a second cut pattern in the exterior surface of the catheter that is different from the first cut pattern. The third portion of the catheter has a third cut pattern in the exterior surface of the catheter that is different from the first cut pattern and the second cut pattern.