Angled Drainage Tube With Integrated Pacing for Single-Incision Surgery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cardiothoracic surgery practices involve multiple incisions and the use of external pacing wires that violate cardiac tissue, leading to increased infection risk, pain, and environmental waste, while traditional wire removal poses bleeding risks and complications.
Innovation Solution
A device with an angled drainage tube and integrated pacing electrodes that exit the body through a single incision, allowing for non-invasive cardiac sensing and pacing without attaching electrodes to the heart muscle, using a single incision for both drainage and pacing functions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple incisions are made for chest drains and pacing wires, then proper draining and pacing functions are achieved, but infection risk increases and patient pain increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (drainage and pacing) into a single integrated device that exits through one incision site. The device includes a drainage tube with pacing electrodes integrated along its surface, allowing both fluid drainage and cardiac pacing to be achieved through a single surgical entry point, thereby reducing infection risk while maintaining necessary functions
Solution Approach 2:
The single incision device serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it provides mediastinal/pleural drainage through the drainage tube while also enabling cardiac sensing and pacing through the integrated electrodes. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate incisions for different functions
2Reliability
If multiple incisions are made for chest drains and pacing wires, then proper draining and pacing functions are achieved, but patient pain increases
Solution Approach 1:
By merging drainage and pacing functions into a single device exiting through one incision, the patient experiences reduced pain compared to multiple separate incisions. The single incision site causes less tissue trauma and discomfort while still providing all necessary drainage and pacing capabilities
3Reliability
If electrodes are sutured into heart muscle for pacing, then proper sensing and pacing are achieved, but cardiac tissue is violated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the surface of the drainage tube as an intermediary platform for the pacing electrodes. Instead of directly suting electrodes into the heart muscle, the electrodes are positioned on the external surface of the drainage tube, which contacts the heart muscle indirectly. This mediator approach achieves proper pacing while avoiding direct tissue violation and associated bleeding risks
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical suture attachment system with a surface-contact system. Rather than mechanically anchoring electrodes to the heart muscle through tissue penetration, the electrodes rest on the external surface of the drainage tube, utilizing the tube's contact with the heart for electrical coupling without requiring tissue violation
4Ease of operation
If traditional pacing wires are removed, then device removal is achieved, but bleeding risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage tube serves as a protective intermediary that shields the heart muscle during wire removal. By removing the entire assembly (drainage tube with electrodes) as a single unit through the existing incision, the procedure avoids the need to separate and remove individual pacing wires that would require cutting through tissue and create bleeding risks
5Object-affected harmful factors
If a single incision is used for drainage and pacing, then surgical trauma is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the drainage tube and pacing electrodes into a single integrated assembly. The electrodes are positioned on the external surface of the drainage tube, and both components function as one unified device that exits through a single incision. This integration reduces surgical trauma by eliminating multiple incisions while managing device complexity through functional combination
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
Reduces surgical trauma, minimizes infection risk, decreases patient discomfort, and eliminates bleeding hazards by using a single incision for both drainage and pacing, while being environmentally friendly.
Implementation Method 1
a pair of pacing electrodes, disposed on a single aspect of the first portion of the angled drainage tube. The pair of pacing electrodes are adapted to contact the ventricular muscle of the heart of the patient for pacing thereof
Implementation Method 2
The angled drainage tube includes a first portion having a plurality of drainage orifices
Data Source
AI summary
A device for use during cardiothoracic surgery around the heart of a patient. The device includes an angled drainage tube including a first portion having a plurality of drainage orifices and a second portion which is angled relative to the first portion. A flexible drainage tube extends from the angled tube and is in fluid communication therewith. A pair of pacing electrodes are disposed on a single aspect of the first portion of the angled drainage tube. The pacing electrodes are adapted to be in contact with the heart muscle for intrinsic rhythm sensing and pacing capability thereof. At least one electrical wire is connected to the pacing electrodes and extends along a portion of the angled drainage tube. The at least one electrical wire is connectable to a pacing box via a cable for powering and controlling the pacing electrodes.