Tissue Marking Device Hook Embedding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tissue marking devices for breast surgery are cumbersome, requiring extensive use of ultrasound and x-ray machines, are rigid, and often displace the marking hook, limiting marking time to just before surgery, causing patient discomfort and stress.
Innovation Solution
A tissue marking device with a thread and hook configuration that allows embedding the hook in targeted tissue days prior to surgery, enabling the patient to move without discomfort, using a tool with a needle and rod to deploy the hook and thread, which can be left protruding from the skin, facilitating pre-surgical marking without displacement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid wire marker is used for tissue marking, then the hook can be easily inserted into the tissue, but the hook may be displaced during patient movement, limiting marking time to just before surgery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a rigid wire marker to a flexible suture-based system that can adapt to patient movement. The suture material allows the hook to remain securely embedded in the tissue while accommodating dynamic patient activities, enabling marking to be performed days before surgery rather than immediately prior.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameter of the marking element from rigid (wire) to flexible (suture). This parameter change allows the marking system to maintain hook embedding strength while simultaneously accommodating patient movement, resolving the contradiction between embedding strength and marking time flexibility.
2Measurement precision
If ultrasound and x-ray machines are used for tissue localization, then accurate tissue marking can be achieved, but the process becomes lengthy and cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the dependency on complex imaging equipment (ultrasound and x-ray machines) from the tissue marking process. By using a simpler mechanical guidance system with the suture and hook device, the invention maintains adequate tissue localization accuracy while dramatically reducing the time and complexity of the marking process.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a disposable suture-based marking system that eliminates the need for expensive, time-consuming imaging equipment. The simple mechanical device provides sufficient accuracy for breast tissue marking while being quick to deploy and discard, reducing both cost and time investment.
3Reliability
If marking is performed close to surgery time, then the hook position is accurate, but patient stress and discomfort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible suture system allows patients to move comfortably during the extended period between marking and surgery, reducing stress and discomfort. The dynamic nature of the suture accommodates normal patient activities while maintaining reliable tissue identification, enabling marking to be performed days in advance without compromising hook position accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A tissue marking device enables the deployment of a hook to mark a location within a breast. The deployment is performed by inserting a needle in tissue until it arrives at a target location and pressing on the end of a rod that embeds the hook in the tissue. A thread is attached to the hook and is left exposed to facilitate locating the hook.