Variable Diameter Catheter for Intracranial Vessel Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current intracranial access systems face challenges in navigating tortuous blood vessels, particularly in older patients with atherosclerotic changes, as larger bore distal access catheters often get stuck in tight bends, and existing solutions like stent retrievers are costly and time-consuming.
Innovation Solution
A variable diameter guide and support system with a distal tip region and an expanded section featuring a tapered surface, allowing for coaxial movement of a distal access catheter through tortuous vasculature, eliminating the need for microcatheters and stent retrievers by applying direct suction and reducing clot fragmentation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If larger bore distal access catheters are used to access intracranial vessels, then access efficiency and clot removal capability are improved, but the ability to navigate tortuous blood vessels deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into multiple sections with varying diameters: a distal tip section with smaller diameter for navigation through tortuous vessels, a mid-section with expanded diameter for access and clot removal, and a proximal section for operator control. This segmentation allows the catheter to combine the navigation capabilities of thin wires with the access capabilities of large-bore catheters.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter incorporates a shape-memory alloy wire (Nitinol) that can be transformed between different shapes and stiffness states. By applying radial compression or thermal activation, the catheter can dynamically adjust its flexibility to navigate tortuous vessels and then stiffen to provide stable access for clot removal, allowing it to adapt to different operational requirements along its length.
2Reliability
If stent retrievers are used to remove blood clots, then clot removal effectiveness is improved, but procedural time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential function of clot removal from the complex stent retriever system and implements it through a simpler large-bore catheter with direct suction capability. The catheter can aspirate clots directly through its large lumen, eliminating the need for stent deployment, retrieval, and extraction through tortuous vessels, thereby reducing procedural time while maintaining effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a disposable large-bore catheter that can be advanced through vessels and used for direct clot aspiration. This single-use catheter eliminates the need for expensive, complex stent retriever systems while achieving the same clinical outcome of effective clot removal, reducing both cost and procedural complexity.
3Reliability
If stent retrievers are used for clot removal, then clot removal capability is improved, but procedural cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces expensive, complex stent retriever systems with a simpler, disposable large-bore catheter that can be manufactured at lower cost. The catheter achieves effective clot removal through direct aspiration via its large lumen, eliminating the need for expensive shape-memory alloy stents and complex retrieval mechanisms, thereby reducing procedural cost while maintaining clinical effectiveness.
4Ease of operation
If conventional catheters are advanced through tortuous vessels, then access to distal vessels is achieved, but clot fragmentation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter's segmented design with a narrow distal tip for navigation and a large-bore mid-section for access allows gentle passage through tortuous vessels followed by stable positioning for clot removal. The gradual diameter transition reduces mechanical stress on clots during advancement, minimizing fragmentation while maintaining the ability to access distal vessels.
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
Enables efficient and cost-effective access to intracranial occlusions by facilitating the movement of larger bore catheters through curved vessels, reducing procedural time and avoiding the use of expensive stent retrievers, while minimizing clot fragmentation.
Implementation Method 1
a distal access catheter operatively connected to the variable diameter guide and support system wherein the distal access catheter is movable in a coaxial manner relative to the cylindrical surface of the expanded section
Implementation Method 2
the expanded section has a distal tapering surface connecting the distal tip region to the expanded section
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to systems and methods for intracranial vessel access. In particular, a system including a co-axial combination of a steerable variable thickness microwire operatively supporting a tapered larger bore support and larger bore distal access catheter is described. Methods of advancing the intracranial access system through the vasculature are also described.