Steerable Suture Retriever With Arcuate Segment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical instruments face challenges in minimally invasive procedures, particularly in endoscopic surgeries, where maneuvering and retrieving sutures or similar surgical items within limited spaces is difficult due to lack of steerability and ease of manipulation.
Innovation Solution
A surgical instrument with a shaft and handle system featuring a suture carrying element with an arcuate segment and capture portion, allowing for elastic deformation and simultaneous rotational and axial movement, enabling precise positioning and retrieval of sutures or other surgical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a suture snare is used to retrieve sutures in endoscopic surgery, then suture retrieval is enabled, but deployment is challenging due to limited joint space
Solution Approach 1:
The suture carrying element incorporates an arcuate segment that allows dynamic bending and deformation as the element is withdrawn through the lumen. This dynamic flexibility enables the capture portion to navigate tight spaces and articulate around sutures, making deployment feasible in limited joint spaces while maintaining reliable suture retrieval capability
Solution Approach 2:
The suture carrying element uses a flexible arcuate segment that can bend and deform during withdrawal through the lumen. This flexible design allows the element to navigate complex anatomical paths and limited spaces within joints, resolving the deployment difficulty while preserving the ability to reliably capture and retrieve sutures
2Adaptability or versatility
If the arcuate element segment is deformed during withdrawal to move the capture portion through an arc profile, then steerability is improved, but the capture portion must maintain its shape without deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The suture carrying element is divided into distinct functional segments: a flexible arcuate segment that deforms to provide steerability during withdrawal, and a rigid capture portion that maintains its shape for reliable suture engagement. This segmentation allows each part to perform its specific function optimally without compromising the other
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the suture carrying element have different mechanical properties: the arcuate segment is designed to be elastically deformable to enable bending and steering, while the capture portion is designed to be rigid to maintain its shape and effectively grasp sutures. This local differentiation of material properties resolves the contradiction between steerability and shape stability
3Measurement precision
If the actuator moves simultaneously in rotational and axial directions, then positioning precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator combines rotational and axial movement capabilities into a single integrated mechanism housed in the handle. This merged design allows simultaneous control of both movements through one actuator assembly, achieving precise positioning of the suture carrying element while avoiding the complexity of separate independent actuators for each degree of freedom
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
Enables efficient and precise manipulation of sutures and other surgical items within tight spaces, enhancing the ability to grasp, release, and reposition them without deforming the capture portion, thus improving surgical procedure efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the suture carrying element being elastically deformable such that when withdrawn within the lumen, movement of the arcuate element segment into the lumen deforms the arcuate element segment causing movement of the capture portion through an arc profile independently of the shaft
Data Source
AI summary
A positioning and retrieval device manipulated by carrying element coupled to an handle and driven by an actuator that allows for axial movement and rotational movement of a capturing portion on the carrying element.