Slit Dilator With Slidable Sleeve For Tissue Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dilators used in surgical procedures lack the advantages of a slidable sleeve, which is essential for efficient and controlled insertion and removal of catheters, often causing unintended tissue damage due to tearing mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A dilator design featuring a tube with a longitudinally arranged slit and a slidable sleeve that closes the slit during insertion, allowing for controlled advancement along a guidewire and easy removal without tearing, using elastic materials or fluoropolymer sleeves to maintain the slit closed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a solid tube dilator is used, then the dilator provides structural integrity, but it causes tissue damage due to tearing when removed
Solution Approach 1:
The tube wall is segmented by introducing a longitudinal slit that extends from the proximal end to the distal end, dividing the continuous wall structure into two separable portions. This segmentation allows the tube to be easily removed from the guidewire by pulling the guidewire through the slit, eliminating tissue damage caused by tearing while maintaining structural integrity during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The slit configuration transforms the static tube structure into a dynamic one that can change state during use. The slit remains closed during insertion to maintain structural integrity and protect tissue, then opens during removal to facilitate easy extraction. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between needing structural strength and ease of removal.
2Ease of operation
If a slit is introduced in the tube wall, then the tube can be easily removed, but the slit may open unintentionally during insertion causing tissue damage
Solution Approach 1:
A retention member is introduced as an intermediary element between the slit edges and the external environment. This retention member engages with protrusions on the inner surface of the tube wall, holding the slit in a closed position during insertion. The retention member allows controlled opening during removal while preventing unintentional opening during insertion, thus protecting tissue while maintaining ease of removal.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the slit is kept closed during insertion, then tissue protection is improved, but the tube cannot be easily removed
Solution Approach 1:
The retention member creates a dynamic system where the slit transitions from a closed state during insertion to an open state during removal. The retention member's engagement and disengagement mechanisms allow the slit to maintain closure when needed for tissue protection while enabling easy opening when removal is required, resolving the contradiction between protection and ease of operation.
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
This design enables controlled dilation and easy removal of dilators, reducing tissue damage and procedural time, allowing for successive dilators of increasing diameter to be inserted without damaging the lumen, facilitating the introduction of medical devices.
Implementation Method 1
The slidable sleeve may be made of an elastic material, such that the slidable sleeve applies a force on the tube, tending to close the slit of the tube, when the slidable sleeve is disposed around the outer circumference of the tube.
Data Source
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AI summary
A dilator comprises a guide extending through a tube, and a slidable sleeve exterior to the tube, such that a slit in the tube extending from a first end of the tube to a second end of the tube, opposite of the first end, is closed by a force applied via the slidable sleeve. When closed, the slit does not interfere with the tube being used as a dilator to dilate tissues of a patient through which the guide extends. When opened, the slit allows the tube to be placed onto the guide or removed from the guide.