Endoscopic Vein Harvester with Shape Memory Retractor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vein harvesting methods for coronary bypass surgery are invasive, painful, and traumatic, requiring long incisions and often leading to complications that hinder patient recovery, while also posing challenges in preserving the perivascular fat to ensure vein viability and patency.
Innovation Solution
An endoscopic vein harvesting device with a handle assembly, elongated portion, end effector, and retractor, featuring shape memory legs and a non-traumatic surface, allows for minimally invasive procedures by deploying a retractor to facilitate the removal of the saphenous vein and surrounding pedicle with minimal tissue trauma, using a few small incisions and enabling the preservation of perivascular fat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional open surgical methods are used to harvest the saphenous vein, then the vein can be accessed and removed, but the procedure causes significant tissue trauma, long incisions, and pain
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical approach is segmented into multiple small incisions distributed along the vein path rather than one long continuous incision. This allows access to different segments of the saphenous vein through separate access points, reducing the size of individual wounds while maintaining complete vein access
Solution Approach 2:
A retractor device is introduced as an intermediary tool to hold and expose the vein between the small incisions. The retractor creates a working space that allows surgical instruments to access and manipulate the vein without requiring large incisions, thereby reducing tissue trauma while maintaining surgical accessibility
2Productivity
If the saphenous vein is completely stripped of surrounding tissue, then the vein can be harvested, but the perivascular fat is removed which may compromise vein viability and patency
Solution Approach 1:
The dissection approach applies local quality by selectively removing only the perivascular fat in specific locations while preserving the vein and its surrounding structures. The surgical instruments are used to carefully separate and remove fat tissue from the vein surface in a controlled manner, maintaining vein integrity while achieving adequate harvesting
Solution Approach 2:
Traditional mechanical stripping instruments are replaced with endoscopic visualization and controlled dissection tools. This allows precise removal of perivascular fat through visual guidance, ensuring that only the necessary fat is removed while preserving the vein and its blood flow, thereby maintaining both harvesting efficiency and vein patency
3Productivity
If traditional harvesting methods are used, then the vein can be removed from the leg, but the procedure is painful and hinders patient recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The vein harvesting procedure extracts the saphenous vein through multiple small incisions rather than requiring a large continuous incision. This extraction approach allows the vein to be removed through smaller wounds, reducing the overall surgical trauma and enabling faster tissue healing and patient recovery while maintaining adequate harvesting speed
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 method and device enable efficient, minimally invasive vein harvesting with reduced trauma and pain, improving vein patency and patient recovery by allowing the preservation of perivascular fat, thus reducing complications and healing time.
Implementation Method 1
The retractor is movable from a non-deployed position where the shaft is aligned with the longitudinal axis, to a deployed position where the shaft is disposed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis
Data Source
AI summary
A vein harvesting device is disclosed. The vein harvesting device includes a handle assembly, an elongated portion extending distally from the handle assembly and defining a longitudinal axis, an end effector, and a retractor. The end effector is disposed adjacent a distal portion of the elongated portion, and includes a first jaw member and a second jaw member. At least one jaw member is movable toward the other jaw member. The retractor is disposed in mechanical cooperation with the elongated portion, and includes a shaft and a pair of legs. The retractor is movable from a non-deployed position where the shaft is aligned with the longitudinal axis, to a deployed position where the shaft is disposed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis.