Shape-Memory Vena Cava Filter With Unitary Petal Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vena cava filters are complex in construction and require separate pieces for assembly, which complicates their manufacturing and deployment, while existing solutions do not adequately address the need for simple, effective devices to capture emboli and clots in patients at risk for pulmonary embolism.
Innovation Solution
A unitary filter device made from a shape memory metal, featuring a hub with radially extending struts that form petals with inner ribs, allowing for a simplified design that expands and engages the vessel wall with barbs for secure clot capture and reduced migration risk, and can be easily deployed and retrieved.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional multi-piece filter construction is used with separate struts and hubs, then the filter can be assembled, but the manufacturing complexity and assembly steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate components (struts, hub, and connecting elements) into a single unitary structure made from one continuous piece of wire. This eliminates the need for separate assembly steps while maintaining the structural integrity and filtering effectiveness of the traditional multi-piece design.
Solution Approach 2:
The unitary wire structure is segmented into functional regions including hub portion, strut portions, and connecting portions that form petals. This segmentation allows the single piece to perform multiple functions that traditionally required separate components, reducing assembly complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If complex assembly procedures are used for traditional filters, then complete filter structures can be formed, but the deployment time and procedural difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
By combining all structural elements into one continuous wire piece, the patent eliminates multiple assembly steps during deployment. The filter can be deployed as a single unit, significantly reducing deployment time while maintaining the structural integrity that would otherwise require complex assembly procedures to achieve.
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional hub designs with multiple separate pieces are used, then the filter can be assembled, but the number of parts and assembly steps increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the hub, struts, and connecting elements into a single continuous wire structure. This reduces the quantity of separate parts from multiple discrete components to one unified piece, simplifying manufacturing processes and eliminating the need for assembly of multiple parts while maintaining the functional integrity of the hub structure.
4Device complexity
If unitary construction is used, then manufacturing and deployment are simplified, but the device must be designed to achieve secure vessel engagement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates barbs on the strut portions that can actively engage with the vessel wall. The dynamic configuration allows the filter to expand and the barbs to penetrate and anchor into the vessel wall, providing secure engagement. This dynamic mechanism ensures reliable vessel engagement despite the simplified unitary construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The unitary wire structure incorporates localized features such as barbs at specific positions on the struts and petals. These localized engagement features provide the necessary security for vessel wall attachment, ensuring that the simplified unitary construction still achieves reliable and secure vessel engagement.
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 unitary construction of the filter device simplifies manufacturing and deployment, enhances clot capture efficacy, minimizes migration risk, and facilitates easy retrieval, addressing the complexity and effectiveness issues of existing vena cava filters.
Implementation Method 1
A filter device for implantation into a body vessel is made from a shape memory metal and is provided in a compressed delivery configuration and a deployed expanded configuration
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure describes filter devices for deployment to body vessels where clots or emboli may need to be captured, particularly the vena cava. The filter device is of unitary construction, having been cut from a substantially planar sheet of a metal, in some instances a shape memory metal. The device has a construction including a plurality of petals, the petals containing an inner rib which curves in the deployed state. A method of making a filter device is also disclosed.