Tissue Suturing Device with Tilting Anchoring Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Suturing in surgical procedures can be time-consuming and prone to errors, especially in minimally invasive surgeries due to the difficulty in manipulating sutures and achieving precise tension within confined anatomical spaces.
Innovation Solution
A tissue suturing device featuring an outer tube with a thread and anchoring elements, including a tilting mechanism that allows for the advancement and locking of anchoring elements within the tissue, enabling the creation of continuous suture loops without needing to access both sides of the tissue, thus facilitating rapid and reliable tissue fixation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional suturing methods are used, then tissue repair reliability is maintained, but surgical time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The suture needle is divided into multiple segments or sections along its length, each capable of independent manipulation. This segmentation allows the needle to perform multiple suturing functions in sequence without requiring complete needle removal and reinsertion, thereby reducing surgical time while maintaining reliable tissue repair through systematic tissue approximation and ligating.
Solution Approach 2:
The suture needle incorporates dynamic elements that allow it to change configuration or orientation during the suturing process. This dynamic capability enables the needle to adapt to different tissue depths and angles, facilitating rapid placement of multiple sutures with consistent tension, thus decreasing surgical time while preserving repair reliability.
2Reliability
If multiple stitches are placed to ensure reliable tissue repair, then surgical precision is improved, but surgeon fatigue increases leading to errors
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple suture functions are merged into a single integrated needle device. The needle combines tissue piercing, suture threading, and ligating capabilities in one instrument, allowing the surgeon to place multiple sutures without repeated instrument exchanges or complex manual threading operations, thereby reducing fatigue while maintaining reliable tissue repair.
Solution Approach 2:
The suture needle incorporates self-threading or self-advancing mechanisms that automatically guide the suture material through tissue without requiring precise manual manipulation. This self-service capability reduces the complexity of placing multiple stitches, minimizing surgeon fatigue while ensuring consistent and reliable tissue approximation and ligating.
3Ease of operation
If suture manipulation is performed in confined anatomical spaces, then minimally invasive access is achieved, but manipulation precision decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The suture needle utilizes a curved or articulated design that operates in three-dimensional space, allowing precise control of suture placement angles and depths even when accessed through small incisions. This dimensional capability enables accurate tissue approximation and ligating in confined anatomical spaces while maintaining minimally invasive access.
Solution Approach 2:
The suture needle features localized functional zones with different properties along its length, such as varying flexibility, sharpness, or locking mechanisms at specific positions. This local quality differentiation allows precise manipulation and control during suturing in confined spaces, maintaining high precision despite minimally invasive access constraints.
4Reliability
If knot tying with desired tension is performed manually, then suture security is improved, but surgical time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The complex knot-tying function is extracted from manual surgical manipulation and integrated into the needle device itself. The needle incorporates automatic locking or tensioning mechanisms that secure the suture with desired tension through the needle's built-in mechanical features, thereby maintaining suture security while reducing surgical complexity and time.
Solution Approach 2:
Manual knot-tying mechanics are replaced with a simplified mechanical system integrated into the needle, such as a ratchet, cam, or elastic locking mechanism. This substitution automatically achieves secure tensioning and ligating without requiring complex manual knot manipulation, reducing surgical complexity while maintaining reliable suture security.
Data Source
Figure 1~2A
Figure 2B~2C
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
Embodiments of the invention are related to an apparatus for suturing a tissue. The apparatus includes an outer tube, a thread threaded in the outer tube and at least one anchoring element located inside the outer tube and configured to be inserted into the tissue from an outlet end of the outer tube. The outer tube is configured to freely accommodate the thread and the at least one anchoring element, and the anchoring element includes a body adapted to be threaded on the thread and having at least locking element for locking the thread to the anchoring element.