Sliding Pressure Sensor in Intravascular Guide Wire
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intravascular devices with electronic, optical, or electro-optical components face challenges in accurately measuring pressure and visualizing the interior of blood vessels due to fixed pressure sensors and limited ability to map pressure along the vessel path, especially in cases with multiple or diffuse lesions, leading to uncertainty in stenosis location and potential restenosis assessment.
Innovation Solution
An intravascular sensor assembly featuring a flexible elongate member with a core member that translates along its longitudinal axis, allowing a sensor circuit to be positioned at multiple locations within the vessel without repositioning the entire device, enabling precise pressure mapping and data collection along the vessel path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a single fixed pressure sensor is used in existing guide wires, then the device structure is simple, but the ability to map pressure along the vessel path is limited and catheter position is lost during pullback
Solution Approach 1:
The guide wire is divided into two functional parts: a fixed outer catheter structure and a movable inner core member with the pressure sensor. This segmentation allows the sensor to be positioned at multiple locations along the vessel by sliding the core member, while the outer structure remains stable and maintains catheter position.
Solution Approach 2:
The core member with the pressure sensor is designed to slide dynamically within the flexible elongate member along the longitudinal axis. This dynamic configuration enables the sensor to access multiple measurement positions without requiring the entire catheter to be repositioned, thereby improving pressure mapping capability while maintaining structural simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the entire catheter is moved to sense pressure at different locations, then pressure measurements can be obtained at multiple positions, but the catheter position is lost during pullback requiring re-crossing of distal lesions
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the pressure sensor into a movable core member that can slide independently within the fixed catheter, the system allows the sensor to access multiple measurement positions without moving the entire catheter assembly, thus maintaining catheter position and eliminating the need to re-cross distal lesions.
Solution Approach 2:
The core member acts as an intermediary between the fixed catheter and the pressure sensor. It enables the sensor to be positioned at different locations along the vessel path by sliding within the catheter, providing adaptability for multiple measurement positions while the catheter itself remains stationary and easily operable.
3Measurement precision
If multiple pressure sensors are distributed along the guide wire, then pressure mapping capability is improved, but the device complexity and size increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using multiple fixed sensors distributed along the guide wire, the invention employs a single pressure sensor mounted on a movable core member that can slide to multiple positions. This dynamic approach achieves pressure distribution mapping capability while maintaining a simple single-sensor structure, avoiding the complexity of a multi-sensor array.
Data Source
AI summary
An intravascular sensor assembly including a flexible elongate member having a longitudinal axis (LA) is provided. The sensor assembly includes a first engagement feature proximal to a distal end of the flexible elongate member; a core member disposed inside a lumen of the flexible elongate member, the core member configured to translate within the flexible elongate member along the LA proximal to the first engagement feature; and a component holding a sensor circuit, the component fixedly secured to a distal end of the core member such that the mounting structure translates along the LA of the flexible elongate member with the core member. A system and a method for performing measurements using a sensor as above are also provided.