Variable-Profile Endoscope Tip for Minimally Invasive Tool Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopes for arthroscopic procedures are invasive, costly, and require sterilization, posing risks of infection and procedural complications due to their complex design, which impedes effective cleaning and disinfection.
Innovation Solution
A single-use, disposable electronic endoscope with a variable profile distal tip that allows tools to pass through a working channel without increasing the endoscope's overall size, featuring an expandable sheath and a low-profile configuration for insertion and an enlarged-profile configuration for tool accommodation, made from biocompatible materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If operative endoscopes with working channels are used for therapeutic procedures, then surgical tools can be passed through to perform operations, but the endoscope diameter increases to 3-4 mm making the procedure more invasive
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope incorporates a dynamic, expandable distal tip that can change its profile from a compressed low-profile state for insertion to an expanded state that creates a larger working channel. This dynamic transformation allows the same device to accommodate surgical tools while maintaining a small insertion diameter, resolving the contradiction between tool accessibility and minimal invasiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The design nests the working channel and surgical tools within the expandable distal tip structure. When compressed, the working channel is nested within the tip walls; when expanded, the tip creates space for tools to pass through. This nesting approach allows tool passage capability to be integrated without permanently increasing the endoscope's external dimensions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex endoscope designs with working channels are used, then therapeutic functions are enabled, but the complex design impedes effective cleaning and sterilization
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope is designed as a single-use, disposable device with integrated components that can be manufactured as one piece or easily separable segments. This segmentation eliminates the need for complex assembly and sterilization processes, as the entire device can be discarded after a single use, resolving the contradiction between therapeutic capability and ease of sterilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a disposable endoscope design where the entire device, including the expandable tip and working channel, is intended for single use only. This approach eliminates sterilization requirements entirely, allowing complex therapeutic functions to be achieved without the burden of cleaning and disinfection, thus resolving the contradiction between versatility and ease of manufacture.
3Quantity of substance
If reusable endoscopes are used, then cost is reduced per procedure, but sterilization time and risk of infection increase
Solution Approach 1:
The disposable endoscope design shifts the cost model from repeated sterilization to single-use manufacturing. While the per-unit cost may be higher, the elimination of sterilization time and associated infrastructure costs, along with reduced infection risks, provides overall value. This approach resolves the contradiction between cost efficiency and time loss by eliminating the sterilization step entirely.
4Length of moving object
If the endoscope maintains a small diameter for minimal invasiveness, then patient discomfort is reduced, but tools cannot be passed through effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable distal tip transforms from a small, low-profile configuration during insertion to a larger, expanded configuration during the procedure. This dynamic size change allows the endoscope to maintain small dimensions for minimal invasiveness while providing adequate space for surgical tools when needed, resolving the contradiction between diameter and tool passage capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The endoscope utilizes radial expansion of the distal tip to create working space, rather than increasing the longitudinal diameter. By expanding in the radial dimension, the device provides tool passage capability without increasing the insertion profile, effectively resolving the contradiction between small diameter and tool accessibility through dimensional transformation.
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
Facilitates minimally invasive procedures with reduced patient discomfort and risk of infection, enabling outpatient therapeutic endoscopic use by general practitioners without the need for sterilization, thus reducing costs and procedural delays.
Implementation Method 1
an expandable sheath and a low-profile configuration for insertion and an enlarged-profile configuration for tool accommodation
Data Source
AI summary
A single-use electronic endoscope has a hub, a shaft extending from the hub, flexible or rigid as desired, and an expandable distal tip extending from the shaft. Within the distal tip, an image sensor provides a field of view external from the endoscope. Illuminating elements or light guides within the distal tip emit light to illuminate the field of view. The distal tip also has a variable profile working channel that permits tools to be passed from the hub and into the field of view. The expandable working channel changes cross-sectional shape from a generally noncircular shape to a shape to accommodate the cross-sectional shape of the tool when expanded.