Single-Hand Catheter Deployment Device with Integrated Valve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical devices for deploying peripheral nerve catheters often require two providers due to the difficulty in managing wire-reinforced catheters, making it challenging for a single provider to thread the catheter while using an ultrasound probe, and necessitate additional equipment if proper placement is not achieved.
Innovation Solution
A medical device designed to be operated with a single hand, featuring a housing with a catheter holder, actuator mechanism, port, and valve that allows for catheter deployment and fluid injection, enabling the user to control the catheter's deployment and aspiration with one hand while using the other hand for tasks like ultrasound operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a wire-reinforced catheter is used for peripheral nerve catheter placement, then the catheter has sufficient structural strength and durability, but it becomes coiled and difficult to manage, requiring two providers to perform the procedure
Solution Approach 1:
A guide wire is introduced as an intermediary element to facilitate catheter threading. The guide wire is threaded through the target tissue first, and the catheter is then advanced over the guide wire to the desired position. This mediator approach allows the rigid wire-reinforced catheter to be deployed without requiring manual threading, thus maintaining catheter strength while improving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The problematic wire reinforcement is extracted or removed from the catheter structure. The patent describes a catheter without wire reinforcement that is held in a coiled configuration within the device housing, eliminating the coiling and management difficulties associated with wire-reinforced catheters while maintaining sufficient structural integrity for the application.
2Measurement precision
If a single provider attempts to thread the catheter while operating an ultrasound probe, then the provider can maintain visualization of the procedure, but it is virtually impossible to thread the catheter simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter threading operation is extracted from the manual dexterity domain and transferred to an automated mechanical domain. The actuator mechanism automatically feeds and deploys the catheter along the guide wire path, freeing both hands of the provider to maintain ultrasound visualization and control the deployment process simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical threading of the catheter is replaced with an automated actuator mechanism. The actuator uses mechanical components such as gears, pulleys, or motors to feed the catheter through the guide wire and into the target tissue, eliminating the need for manual threading while maintaining precise control.
3Ease of operation
If additional personnel are used to assist with catheter placement, then the procedure can be performed more easily, but the need for multiple providers increases complexity and resource requirements
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functions are merged into a single integrated device. The housing contains both the guide wire delivery mechanism and the catheter storage/deployment system. The actuator mechanism simultaneously controls both guide wire advancement and catheter deployment, combining what would traditionally require multiple providers into one automated system that can be operated by a single provider.
4Volume of moving object
If the catheter is held in a coiled configuration within the housing, then the catheter is compact and easy to store, but it requires a mechanism to feed it out during deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is stored in a coiled or spiral configuration within the housing, utilizing curved geometry to pack the linear catheter into a compact three-dimensional space. This coiled storage approach minimizes the volume required while maintaining catheter integrity and enabling controlled deployment through the actuator mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
A medical device is provided that can be held and operated with a single hand to cause a catheter to be placed at a selected location in a patient's body. The user's other hand is free to perform other tasks, such as operating an ultrasound probe, for example. The medical device may also include a valve that can be operated with the same hand that holds the medical device to open a port to cause a fluid, such as a nerve block agent, for example, to be injected into the patient's body at the selected location.