Surgical Fastening Assembly with Nested Shape Memory Anchors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical methods lack a reliable device for securing surgical fasteners through a flexible endoscope, as existing devices are too large for the endoscope's working channel and lack the necessary flexibility to navigate internal body lumens, making it impossible to perform minimally invasive surgeries via natural orifices.
Innovation Solution
A surgical fastening assembly with elongate tubular bodies and anchors made of shape memory alloys or spring-biased metals, which can be deployed in a substantially closed configuration and expand to grasp tissue, allowing for tissue approximation and securement via a push rod mechanism, enabling the use of flexible endoscopes for minimally invasive procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional surgical fasteners and delivery devices are used, then reliable tissue closure can be achieved, but the device size and rigidity prevent passage through the flexible endoscope working channel
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor is delivered within a protective sheath that can be collapsed or retracted. The anchor itself has a nested structure with legs that can be folded or retracted during delivery, then deployed at the target site. This nesting allows the device to pass through the narrow endoscope working channel while maintaining functionality at the deployment location.
Solution Approach 2:
The device transitions from a rigid delivery configuration to a flexible operational configuration. The anchor legs are rigid during delivery for stability, then become flexible or expandable at the target site. The sheath is rigid during passage through the endoscope, then collapses to allow anchor deployment. This dynamic transformation resolves the contradiction between size for delivery and functionality for use.
2Reliability
If rigid surgical instruments are used for reliable fastening, then secure tissue approximation is achieved, but the instruments cannot navigate the flexible endoscope through curvatures of internal body lumens
Solution Approach 1:
The delivery device is segmented into multiple flexible components including a flexible shaft, articulation joints, and a distal anchor assembly. This segmentation allows each component to independently navigate curvatures while maintaining overall structural integrity. The modular design enables the rigid anchor to be separated from the flexible delivery mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery device incorporates dynamic elements such as articulation joints and flexible shafts that allow real-time adjustment of the distal tip orientation. The system can transition between rigid anchoring configuration and flexible navigation mode, adapting to the curvatures of internal body lumens while maintaining reliable fastening capability at the target site.
3Reliability
If multiple separate fasteners are deployed individually, then complete tissue closure can be achieved, but the procedure time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple anchor fasteners are combined into a single integrated delivery device that can deploy all anchors simultaneously or in sequence through one insertion. The sheath contains multiple anchors arranged to engage tissue at multiple locations, eliminating the need for multiple separate insertion procedures and significantly reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple anchors are pre-positioned within the sheath in a compressed configuration before delivery. The anchoring locations are predetermined during device design, allowing all fasteners to be deployed to their final positions in a single maneuver, eliminating the need for multiple separate deployment steps and procedures.
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 the secure approximation and closure of tissue incisions or openings within the body through a minimally invasive approach, reducing morbidity and mortality, and facilitating procedures like bariatric surgery with reduced recovery time and cost.
Implementation Method 1
at least one anchor made of shape memory alloys or spring-biased metals, which can be deployed in a substantially closed configuration and expand to grasp tissue
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical fastening assembly has a fastener delivery sub-assembly with a plurality of elongated tubular needle members rigidly affixed to one another about a longitudinal axis of the subassembly. The tubular needle members are positionable around an elongate trocar movably positionable inside a cannula. The cannula is coupled to the fastener delivery sub-assembly. Anchors or fasteners are disposed in the needle members and ejected at the same time by a pusher member.