Trocar Sleeve with Diffusion Polymer for Port Site Anesthesia
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current laparoscopic surgery methods face challenges in accurately delivering local anesthetic medication to the port site wound, leading to incomplete anesthesia, post-operative pain, and increased reliance on general anesthesia and narcotics, due to indiscriminate and inaccurate injection techniques and uneven distribution of medication.
Innovation Solution
A trocar assembly with an elongated obturator sleeve featuring an internal flow passage, medication inlet, and diffusion polymer that absorbs and releases medication through apertures along the wound path, ensuring uniform and prolonged anesthesia of the port site tissues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If liquid anesthetic medication is injected by hand at the planned point of insertion and along the anticipated obturator wound tract, then the procedure is simple to perform, but the medication placement is inaccurate and results in incomplete anesthesia of the port site wound
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is divided into multiple segments with apertures distributed along its length, allowing medication to be delivered at multiple locations along the wound tract rather than at a single injection point. This segmentation enables accurate coverage of the entire port site wound path.
Solution Approach 2:
A diffusion polymer is introduced as an intermediary substance within the sleeve that absorbs and gradually releases the liquid anesthetic medication through the apertures. This mediator ensures controlled and uniform medication delivery along the wound tract, eliminating the need for manual injection techniques.
2Quantity of substance
If liquid anesthetic medication is injected through the sleeve, then medication delivery is simplified, but the liquid follows the path of least resistance and flows out into the abdominal cavity rather than uniformly distributing along the wound tract
Solution Approach 1:
The diffusion polymer acts as a porous material with controlled porosity that absorbs the liquid anesthetic and releases it gradually through the apertures. This porous structure prevents the liquid from following the path of least resistance into the abdominal cavity and ensures uniform distribution along the entire wound tract.
Solution Approach 2:
The diffusion polymer changes the physical parameters of medication delivery by transforming the liquid flow into a controlled diffusion process. This parameter change ensures that medication is delivered at a steady rate through the apertures rather than flowing freely into the abdominal cavity.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If local anesthetic is administered pre-operatively and metabolized during the surgical procedure, then initial anesthesia is achieved, but post-operative break through pain occurs requiring increased narcotic use
Solution Approach 1:
The diffusion polymer is pre-loaded with anesthetic medication in the sleeve before the procedure. This preliminary action ensures that medication is immediately available at the wound site when needed, providing continuous anesthesia coverage from the start of the procedure through recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The diffusion polymer provides continuous release of anesthetic medication throughout the surgical procedure and into the post-operative period. This continuous action prevents metabolization gaps that would otherwise lead to break through pain, eliminating the need for increased narcotic use.
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 provides reliable and steady delivery of local anesthetic medication along the true path of the port site wound, reducing post-operative pain, narcotic use, and enhancing patient comfort by ensuring maximum anesthesia coverage during and after the procedure.
Implementation Method 1
a diffusion polymer located within the internal flow passage for initially absorbing the liquid medication delivered into the internal flow passage and then releasing the absorbed medication through the apertures
Implementation Method 2
releasing the absorbed medication through the apertures, wherein the released medication infiltrates the tissues of the port site wound
Data Source
AI summary
An obturator sleeve for a trocar assembly and method of its use are disclosed for infiltrating a liquid medication such as a local anesthetic into the tissue walls of a port site wound during a laparoscopic procedure. The sleeve includes an internal flow passage for receiving the liquid medication. A diffusion polymer, located within the internal flow passage, first absorbs the liquid medication and then releases the liquid medication through a plurality of apertures in the sleeve. When port site wound tissue contacts the diffusion polymer, the diffusion polymer within the sleeve steadily releases the absorbed medication through the plurality of apertures. The obturator sleeve provides a means to adequately infiltrate medication into the tissues of the port site wound, and can be used to block the free nerve endings of the port site wound as well as nearby sensory and motor nerves.