Tripodic Spine Basket for Cardiac Ablation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current catheter-based ablation technologies for cardiac arrhythmias face challenges in manufacturing complexity and cost due to the difficulty in adhering electrodes to spines and forming spherical baskets, leading to increased time and risk of misalignment.
Innovation Solution
A medical probe with a tubular shaft and expandable basket assembly featuring unitary tripodic structures formed from planar sheets, where spines are coupled to electrodes, allowing for easier assembly and deployment, and electrodes are integrated within the spines to form a spherical or oblate-spheroid basket.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If electrodes are adhered to spines using soldering, welding, or adhesive after spines are formed, then electrodes can be attached to spines, but manufacturing time increases and misalignment risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode and spine are merged into a single integrated structure where the electrode is formed directly on the spine surface as a continuous layer, eliminating the need for separate attachment processes. This integration ensures perfect alignment while reducing manufacturing steps and time.
Solution Approach 2:
The electrode material is deposited on the spine surface before the spine is fully assembled into the final device structure. This preliminary formation of the electrode ensures proper alignment is established early in manufacturing, avoiding later alignment issues and rework.
2Ease of manufacture
If tripodic structures are assembled from separate spines and electrodes, then components can be manufactured independently, but assembly complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode and spine are merged into a single integrated structure where the electrode is formed directly on the spine surface as a continuous layer, eliminating the need for separate attachment processes. This integration ensures perfect alignment while reducing manufacturing steps and time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate components are used to form the spherical basket, then design flexibility is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode and spine are merged into a single integrated structure where the electrode is formed directly on the spine surface as a continuous layer, eliminating the need for separate attachment processes. This integration ensures perfect alignment while reducing manufacturing steps and time.
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
The solution reduces manufacturing time and cost while ensuring proper alignment and stability of electrodes, enhancing the efficiency and reliability of irreversible electroporation procedures for cardiac arrhythmia treatment.
Implementation Method 1
The expandable basket assembly can be in a compressed state during insertion and then expanded at the target site to form a spherical or oblate-spheroid basket for improved tissue contact
Implementation Method 2
IRE delivers short pulses of high voltage to tissues and generates an unrecoverable permeabilization of cell membranes
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 2D~2E
AI summary
The disclosed technology includes a medical probe comprising a tubular shaft extending along a longitudinal axis and including a proximal end and a distal end. The medical probe further comprises an expandable basket assembly proximate the distal end of the tubular shaft. The basket assembly comprises a first unitary tripodic structure and a second unitary tripodic structure, each tripodic structure formed from a respective planar sheet of material that includes three linear spines converging at a respective central spine intersection and one or more electrodes coupled to each of the spines, each electrode defining a lumen through the electrode so that the spine extends through the lumen of each of the one or more electrodes. Each tripodic structure formed from a respective planar sheet of material that includes three linear spines converging at a respective central spine intersection.