Side-Emitting Optical Fiber Grooves for Varicose Vein Cauterization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laser treatment techniques for varicose veins often cause excessive heating and carbonization of blood vessel walls due to localized irradiation from the distal surface of optical fibers, leading to potential vessel breakage.
Innovation Solution
A treatment device with an optical fiber that emits laser light from its side circumferential surface, featuring grooves of varying depths and angles to distribute intensity evenly along the length, ensuring gradual temperature increase and controlled denaturation without excessive heating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If laser light is emitted only from the distal surface of the optical fiber, then the treatment device is simple in structure, but the blood vessel wall undergoes local excessive heating and carbonization
Solution Approach 1:
The optical fiber is segmented into multiple emitting parts along its longitudinal direction, with each part having grooves at different positions. This segmentation distributes the laser emission points, preventing concentration of energy at a single location and thereby avoiding local excessive heating and carbonization of the blood vessel wall.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the optical fiber are given different emitting characteristics through varying groove depths, widths, and patterns at different longitudinal positions. This creates local quality variations in laser emission intensity and distribution, allowing controlled heating at different segments while preventing any single point from experiencing excessive heat concentration.
2Temperature
If laser light intensity is concentrated at a single point, then the heating effect is strong and efficient, but the blood vessel wall temperature increases too rapidly causing carbonization
Solution Approach 1:
The laser emission is segmented into multiple sources along the optical fiber length, distributing the heating effect across multiple locations. This prevents rapid temperature concentration at a single point while maintaining overall heating efficiency through cumulative thermal effect from multiple emitting segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The grooves are arranged periodically or in specific patterns along the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, creating a periodic distribution of emission points. This periodic arrangement ensures continuous and uniform heating along the blood vessel wall, preventing hot spots while maintaining efficient thermal energy transfer.
3Ease of manufacture
If the optical fiber emits laser light from the distal surface only, then the device is easy to manufacture, but the cauterization effect is insufficient and uneven
Solution Approach 1:
The optical fiber is divided into multiple emitting segments with grooves at different longitudinal positions, each contributing to the overall cauterization effect. This segmentation enables more uniform energy distribution along the blood vessel wall, improving cauterization uniformity while using standard manufacturing techniques for creating grooves.
Solution Approach 2:
Different groove configurations at different longitudinal positions create local variations in emission intensity, allowing optimization of cauterization at each segment. This local quality approach ensures uniform overall cauterization effect by compensating for variations in tissue properties and laser propagation.
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 effectively cauterizes blood vessel walls by maintaining a suitable temperature for tissue denaturation without carbonization, ensuring efficient and safe occlusion of varicose veins.
Implementation Method 1
an optical fiber having an emitting part that emits laser light from a side circumferential surface
Implementation Method 2
irradiating a wall of the living body lumen with the laser light... the temperature can be promptly increased to a temperature region suitable for denaturation
Implementation Method 3
Two or more grooves are provided in the emitting part at places different in a longitudinal direction of the emitting part... the intensity of the laser light emitted from the emitting part on a second end side decreases toward the second end side
Implementation Method 4
the temperature region suitable for denaturation of tissue of the wall of the living body lumen... so that the wall of the living body lumen can be properly cauterized and denatured
Data Source
AI summary
A treatment device is disclosed for treatment of a living body lumen. The treatment device can include an optical fiber having an emitting part that emits laser light from a side circumferential surface. Two or more grooves are provided in the emitting part at places different in a longitudinal direction of the emitting part. The two or more grooves have two or more kinds of shapes and intensities of the laser light emitted from the grooves adjacent to each other are different. A maximum region of intensity of the laser light emitted from the emitting part is located on one end side relative to a center position in the longitudinal direction of the emitting part. The intensity of the laser light emitted from the emitting part on the other end side of the emitting part relative to a position of the maximum region decreases toward the other end side.