Swellable Rod Tissue Regeneration Tube
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current tissue regenerating instruments face challenges in handleability, storage stability, and require specialized techniques and materials, such as cells or drugs, which increase costs and complexity, and often result in incomplete tissue regeneration due to issues with suture techniques and cell growth on instrument surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A precursor for a tissue regenerating instrument comprising a biodegradable tube with a lumen and a swellable rod fixed to the inner wall, where the rod's cross-sectional area expands to match the tube's in a softening solvent, allowing for easier handling and production of instruments with tissue insertion spaces on both ends, reducing the need for specialized techniques and materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a gel containing collagen, laminin or the like is used in the nerve regenerating tube, then the tube provides a foothold for cell growth, but the tube becomes very difficult to handle since gel is fluid and has an unstable shape
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state parameter of the collagen from gel form to fiber form. The fibered collagen maintains the biochemical properties needed for cell growth while achieving a stable, handleable shape. This parameter change resolves the contradiction by preserving cell growth support while eliminating the fluidity and shape instability of gel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure by combining fibered collagen with a biodegradable polymer tube. The fibered collagen provides cell growth footholds while the tube structure provides mechanical stability and handleability. This composite approach resolves the contradiction by combining the beneficial properties of both materials.
2Reliability
If moisture in the gel penetrates into collagen, then the collagen is decomposed even if crosslinked, but this prevents long-term storage of the instrument
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical form of collagen from gel to fiber, which fundamentally alters its interaction with moisture. The fibered structure reduces moisture penetration and decomposition compared to gel form, enabling long-term storage while maintaining structural integrity during the storage period.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a biodegradable polymer tube that is designed to be stable during storage and then decompose after implantation. This disposable approach resolves the storage stability issue by ensuring the instrument remains intact during storage and transportation, then safely degrades in the body without requiring long-term structural persistence.
3Adaptability or versatility
If an instrument is flat on both ends to provide insertion space, then physicians must use end-to-end suture which is an extremely high level technique, but this increases surgical complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curvature to the ends of the tube by forming inclined surfaces instead of flat ends. This spherical/conical modification allows the tube to be inserted into tissue without requiring precise end-to-end suturing, as the inclined surface guides insertion and provides stability. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining insertion capability while eliminating the need for advanced suture techniques.
4Stability of the object's composition
If a rod is fixed to the inner wall of the tube with fixing means, then the rod maintains position during storage, but the fixing means must be removed or degraded before implantation to allow rod movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a biodegradable fixing means that changes its properties over time through degradation. The fixing means is stable during storage and transportation, then gradually degrades in the body to allow rod movement. This parameter change over time resolves the contradiction by providing initial stability followed by automatic release without requiring manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixing means automatically degrades and releases the rod through biochemical processes in the body without requiring external intervention. This self-service mechanism resolves the contradiction by eliminating the need for physicians to manually remove fixing means, thereby reducing device complexity and surgical steps.
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
Facilitates the production of instruments with improved handleability and reduced complexity, enabling easier implantation and tissue regeneration without the need for cells or drugs, while preventing cell growth on the instrument surface, thus enhancing surgical efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
a rod (21) made of a biodegradable material and swellable with a softening solvent, which is fixed to an inner wall of the tube (1) substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tube (1)
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a precursor for producing a tissue regenerating instrument that regenerates a tissue, including: a tube made of a biodegradable material provided with a lumen in a longitudinal direction; a rod made of a biodegradable material swellable with a softening solvent, fixed to an inner wall of the tube substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tube; and an adhesive that fixes the rod to the inner wall of the tube, in which the rod in a non-swelled state has an occupied cross-sectional area perpendicular to the longitudinal direction that is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the lumen of the tube, and the occupied cross-sectional area perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rod in a saturated swelled state with the softening solvent is substantially the same as the cross-sectional area of the lumen of the tube.