Variable-Length Ureteral Stent With Trim-to-Fit Retention Coils
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ureteral stents have fixed diameters and lengths, requiring hospitals to inventory multiple sizes, leading to inefficiencies and challenges in accommodating varying patient anatomies, and existing variable length designs often cause patient discomfort due to redundant material.
Innovation Solution
A stent with a tubular member and adjustable retention structures, featuring removable anti-coiling material that allows trimming to achieve the desired length, and a dual-purpose tip for navigating obstructions and retrieval, reducing the need for multiple stent sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hospitals inventory stents of different fixed lengths to accommodate varying patient anatomies, then patient-specific anatomical requirements are met, but inventory complexity and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The stent incorporates a dynamic length adjustment mechanism where the intermediate portion can be trimmed to different lengths intraoperatively. This transforms a static fixed-length product into a dynamic system that adapts to varying anatomical requirements, allowing a single stent design to replace multiple fixed-length variants in hospital inventory.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent design provides multi-functionality by combining a standardized retention structure with variable length capability. A single universal stent platform can serve multiple anatomical indications through intraoperative length customization, eliminating the need to maintain separate inventory for different length specifications while maintaining anatomical adaptability.
2Ease of manufacture
If stents are manufactured with fixed lengths, then manufacturing and inventory management are simplified, but patient-specific length requirements cannot be met without additional inventory
Solution Approach 1:
The stent is segmented into distinct functional portions: fixed retention structures at the ends and a variable intermediate portion that can be trimmed. This segmentation allows the manufacturing process to produce a standardized base product while enabling post-manufacturing length customization through simple trimming of the intermediate section, combining manufacturing efficiency with adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent transitions from a static fixed-length manufactured product to a dynamic customizable device through intraoperative trimming. The manufacturing process produces a universal length that is then dynamically adjusted to patient-specific requirements, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while achieving length adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If stents with excessive length are used to accommodate extreme anatomical variations, then all patient types can be served, but patient discomfort increases due to redundant material
Solution Approach 1:
The stent enables dynamic length optimization where the intermediate portion is trimmed intraoperatively to the precise length required for each patient's anatomy. This eliminates the need to use excessively long stents for extreme cases, removing redundant material that would cause discomfort while maintaining the ability to accommodate extreme anatomical variations through custom trimming.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent allows parameter optimization by changing the length parameter intraoperatively through trimming. Instead of deploying a fixed excessive length to ensure coverage in extreme cases, the length parameter is adjusted to match the patient's specific anatomy, eliminating harmful redundant material while maintaining adaptability to extreme variations.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple fixed-length stent variants are inventoried, then complete coverage of patient needs is achieved, but storage space and logistics requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The stent design creates a universal platform that can serve all length requirements through intraoperative trimming. Instead of maintaining separate inventory for multiple length variants, a single universal stent design with a trimmable intermediate portion provides complete coverage for all patient length needs, dramatically reducing storage space requirements while maintaining complete anatomical coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The stent segments the length parameter into a standardized retention structure and a variable intermediate portion. This segmentation allows one stent design to replace multiple fixed-length variants in inventory, as the intermediate portion can be trimmed to any required length, reducing storage space while maintaining the ability to meet all patient length requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A stent comprising a tubular member, a lumen extending through the tubular member, a first retention structure and a second retention structure at opposite ends of the tubular member. The first retention structure comprises multiple coils and a removable anti-coiling material over the multiple coils of the first retention structure to present the multiple coils as an elongated extension of the tubular member, whereupon removal of the removable anti-coiling material at least one of the multiple coils of the first retention structure is presented and any excess coils can be trimmed.