Segmented Thrombectomy Shaft for Tortuous Vessel Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mechanical thrombectomy devices face a trade-off between being compatible with small diameter microcatheters, which requires a flexible and easily damaged shaft, or larger diameter shafts for robustness, making it difficult to advance through tortuous vessels without dislodging clots, and achieving sufficient pushability while maintaining kink resistance and durability.
Innovation Solution
A clot retrieval system with a catheter and shaft design that includes a flexible, low-profile distal section for navigating through small microcatheters and a robust, larger diameter proximal section for pushability, allowing the shaft to be advanced through challenging vessel anatomy while maintaining kink resistance and enabling effective clot engagement and aspiration without removing the microcatheter.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a small diameter microcatheter is used to navigate tortuous vessels, then flexibility and ease of advancement are improved, but the shaft becomes flimsy and cannot effectively transmit push force
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is divided into multiple sections with different diameters and stiffness characteristics. The distal section has a smaller diameter for flexibility and navigation through tortuous vessels, while the proximal section has a larger diameter for robust push force transmission. This segmentation allows each section to optimize its function independently.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the shaft are given different local properties: the distal section is made more flexible with a smaller diameter to navigate vessel tortuosity, while the proximal section is made stiffer with a larger diameter to provide pushability and structural support. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between flexibility and strength.
2Strength
If a larger diameter shaft is used to provide robustness and pushability, then force transmission is improved, but compatibility with small diameter microcatheters is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is segmented into a proximal section with larger diameter for strength and a distal section with smaller diameter for compatibility. This allows the device to fit through small microcatheters while maintaining overall structural robustness through the larger proximal section.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft transitions from a uniform diameter to a variable diameter structure, adding dimensional variation along its length. This allows the distal end to pass through small microcatheter lumens while the proximal end maintains larger dimensions for strength and pushability.
3Ease of operation
If the shaft is made more flexible to navigate tortuous anatomy, then ease of navigation is improved, but kink resistance and durability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft is segmented into flexible distal sections for navigation and stiffer proximal sections for durability. The flexible sections can bend to navigate tortuous anatomy without kinking, while the stiffer proximal sections provide overall structural integrity and resistance to damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The distal section of the shaft incorporates flexible structural elements that allow bending and conforming to vessel anatomy without kinking or permanent deformation. This flexibility enables navigation through tortuous pathways while maintaining the structural integrity needed for durability.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for removing an obstruction from a blood vessel. The system can include a catheter with a proximal section with a proximal section lumen diameter and a distal section with a distal section lumen diameter less than the proximal section lumen diameter. The system can include a clot retrieval device with a clot engaging element. The system can include a shaft advanceable through the lumen of the catheter to the obstruction in the vessel. The shaft can include a shaft proximal section, a shaft distal section attached to the clot engaging element with a diameter less than that of the shaft proximal section and configured to cross the obstruction. The shaft proximal section diameter can be larger than the diameter of the distal section lumen diameter of the catheter, thereby inhibiting the shaft proximal section from distally advancing through the catheter distal section.