Ureteral Stent Tether Design for Reflux Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ureteral stents currently cause discomfort and medical issues such as urinary reflux, flank pain, and irritation to the trigone muscle due to their design, which allows urine to flow in both directions and can migrate, leading to blockages and further complications.
Innovation Solution
A ureteral stent with a bladder portion and a kidney portion connected by tethers, allowing the ureter orifice to move between compressed and uncompressed states, preventing reflux, and enabling the bladder portion to float, thus minimizing irritation and allowing urine to flow unidirectionally, while being designed to prevent migration and discomfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the bladder portion is made rigid to prevent migration into the ureteral passageway, then stability is improved, but the bladder portion cannot move freely to prevent irritation to the trigone muscle
Solution Approach 1:
The bladder portion is designed with dynamic characteristics, being resilient and biased in an unrestrained position to allow free movement within the bladder while preventing migration into the ureteral passageway. This dynamic design enables the stent to adapt to bladder movements without causing irritation to the trigone muscle.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent utilizes changes in positional parameters through the tether mechanism, allowing the bladder portion to move between restrained and unrestrained positions. This parameter change enables the bladder portion to maintain stability preventing migration while allowing freedom of movement to avoid trigone muscle irritation.
2Productivity
If the ureter orifice is held in an uncompressed state to allow unidirectional flow, then urine flow control is improved, but the orifice cannot compress to prevent urinary reflux
Solution Approach 1:
The ureter orifice is designed with dynamic compression capability, allowing it to move between compressed and uncompressed states. This dynamic behavior enables the orifice to compress during bladder filling to prevent urinary reflux while returning to an uncompressed state to maintain unidirectional urine flow from the kidney to the bladder.
3Ease of manufacture
If the stent structure is simplified to reduce complexity, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the stent cannot provide both migration prevention and free bladder portion movement
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is segmented into distinct functional portions: a bladder portion for preventing migration, a ureter portion for maintaining patency, and a tether connecting them. This segmentation allows each portion to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall structural simplicity and ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The tether acts as an intermediary element connecting the bladder portion and ureter portion, enabling the bladder portion to move freely while preventing migration into the ureteral passageway. This intermediary component achieves dual functionality without significantly increasing manufacturing complexity.
4Reliability
If the bladder portion is restrained to prevent migration, then stability is improved, but the bladder portion cannot float to minimize irritation
Solution Approach 1:
The bladder portion is designed with dynamic restraint through the tether mechanism, allowing it to be restrained when needed to prevent migration while permitting freedom of movement to float and minimize irritation to the trigone muscle. This dynamic restraint design balances stability and mobility requirements.
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 stent effectively maintains urine flow from the kidney to the bladder, reduces reflux and flank pain, and minimizes irritation to the trigone muscle, enhancing patient comfort and reducing adverse effects associated with traditional stent placement.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the bladder portion to move freely in the bladder to prevent the bladder portion from irritating the trigone muscle
Implementation Method 2
allows a ureter orifice connecting the ureteral passageway to the bladder to move between a compressed state and an uncompressed state to prevent or minimize urinary reflux
Implementation Method 3
the bladder portion being resilient and biased In an unrestrained position to prevent the bladder portion from migrating into the ureteral passageway
Implementation Method 4
a resilient fixing portion biased in an unrestrained position to secure the resilient fixing portion in the kidney when positioned in the kidney
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a ureteral stent including a bladder portion positioned in a bladder of a patient, a kidney portion positioned in a kidney and ureteral passageway of the patient, and one or more tethers coupling the bladder portion to the kidney portion. The ureteral stent allows urine to pass around a blockage, and allows a ureter orifice connecting the ureteral passageway to the bladder to move between a compressed state and an uncompressed state to prevent or minimize urinary reflux, flank pain, blood in the urine, etc., while allowing the bladder portion to move freely in the bladder to prevent the bladder portion from irritating the trigone muscle.