Specimen Imaging Device with Elastic Retention and Radiopaque Grid
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for imaging and transporting excised tissue specimens often result in deformation and changes in orientation, making accurate detection of tissue margins and diagnosis challenging due to the lack of a stable imaging and transport system.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising first and second positioning members with elastically deformable sheet members that retain and suspend the tissue specimen, allowing for multi-axis imaging and transport while maintaining a fixed orientation, using a prop to adjust angles and a grid member to impart radiopaque lines into images, thereby limiting deformation and ensuring accurate diagnosis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the tissue specimen is manually positioned and transported between imaging and diagnosis, then the workflow is flexible, but the specimen deforms and changes orientation making accurate margin detection difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning device is divided into separate positioning members (first positioning member with first opening and second positioning member with second opening) that can independently retain different portions of the specimen, allowing each member to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall specimen stability
Solution Approach 2:
A radiopaque grid member is introduced as an intermediary between the imaging system and the specimen, providing a reference coordinate system that remains stable during imaging and transport, enabling accurate location identification even if the specimen shifts slightly
2Productivity
If the specimen is compressed or folded to fit in imaging equipment, then imaging is possible, but the specimen shape changes making diagnosis difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The device allows imaging from multiple dimensions (orthogonal views through first and second openings) without requiring physical compression or folding of the specimen, maintaining shape integrity while enabling comprehensive imaging through spatial arrangement
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning members include flexible sheet members that can deform to accommodate the specimen's natural shape while still providing retention, allowing the specimen to maintain its three-dimensional structure without rigid confinement
3Measurement precision
If the specimen is repositioned between first and second orthogonal images, then complete margin analysis is possible, but accurate analysis becomes difficult or impossible due to reshaping
Solution Approach 1:
The specimen is positioned and retained in a fixed orientation within the positioning device before imaging begins, establishing a stable reference frame that allows multiple orthogonal images to be acquired without repositioning, thereby maintaining analysis accuracy while enabling efficient multi-axis imaging
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 solution enables accurate and efficient multi-axis imaging and transport of tissue specimens, ensuring that tissue margins can be accurately detected and diagnosed by maintaining the specimen in a stable orientation, reducing deformation and improving diagnostic accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
The first positioning member includes a first frame member having a first opening therein spanned by a first at least partially elastically deformable sheet member
Implementation Method 2
a corresponding at least partially radiopaque grid or coordinate system to allow a surgeon or radiologist to accurately identify suspicious locations
Data Source
AI summary
A specimen holding and positioning apparatus operable to substantially non-movably maintain a specimen (e.g., an excised tissue specimen) in a fixed or stable orientation with respect to the apparatus during imaging operations (e.g., x-ray imaging), transport (e.g., from a surgery room to a pathologist's laboratory), and the like for use in facilitating accurate detection and diagnosis of cancers and/or other abnormalities of the specimen.