Visualization Catheter with Expandable Imaging Hood
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medical devices for accessing and visualizing tissue regions within the body, particularly in the heart, face challenges due to the presence of opaque bodily fluids like blood, which obstructs imaging and makes it difficult to perform therapeutic procedures effectively, especially in dynamic environments like the beating heart.
Innovation Solution
A tissue imaging and manipulation system that uses a visualization catheter with an articulatable tip and expandable imaging hood, which can be deployed to create a clear fluid environment for imaging and ablation, allowing for real-time visualization and therapeutic interventions within the heart, even in areas with continuous blood flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional imaging balloons are inflated to create a clear imaging environment, then imaging quality is improved, but the balloon displaces surrounding tissue and interferes with fine positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system is divided into separate functional components: a delivery catheter for navigation and positioning, and a collapsible imaging hood that can be deployed only when needed. This segmentation allows the imaging component to be small during navigation (avoiding tissue displacement) and expandable during imaging (providing clear visualization).
Solution Approach 2:
The imaging hood is nested within the delivery catheter in a collapsed state during navigation, allowing the system to pass through narrow vessels without displacing tissue. When imaging is required, the hood is deployed outward from the catheter, providing a clear imaging environment without requiring the entire catheter assembly to be large.
2Loss of information
If an inflatable balloon is used to create a working area for imaging, then a clear imaging environment is achieved, but the working area becomes cramped and limited in size
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging hood is designed to expand in multiple dimensions simultaneously (radially outward and longitudinally), creating a three-dimensional working space that provides both clear imaging and adequate room for instrumentation. This multi-dimensional expansion overcomes the limitation of conventional balloons that expand primarily in one direction, creating cramped spaces.
3Loss of information
If an inflated balloon is used for imaging in a beating heart, then imaging is possible, but pressure changes during systolic and diastolic cycles affect balloon volume and positioning stability
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging hood is designed with flexible, collapsible walls that can dynamically adapt to pressure changes during the cardiac cycle. The hood maintains its imaging function while flexing with pressure variations, unlike rigid inflated balloons that change volume and positioning. The collapsible design allows the hood to be compressed during high-pressure phases while maintaining structural integrity and imaging capability.
4Adaptability or versatility
If opaque bodily fluids like blood are present in the imaging field, then therapeutic procedures can be performed in the natural physiological environment, but the fluids obstruct imaging and make it difficult to visualize tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system extracts or removes the obstructing blood from the immediate imaging field by using the collapsible hood to create a localized environment where blood can be displaced or cleared. This allows optical imaging to proceed without requiring the removal of the entire catheter system from the physiological environment, maintaining the ability to perform therapeutic procedures while achieving clear visualization.
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 clear visualization and precise therapeutic interventions within the heart, facilitating procedures like atrial fibrillation treatment by maintaining a clear fluid environment, reducing the risk of incorrect placement, and allowing for efficient lesion formation with controlled energy delivery.
Implementation Method 1
Imaging is typically accomplished by an optical fiber or other apparatus such as electronic chips for viewing the tissue through the membrane(s) of the inflated balloon
Implementation Method 2
Ablation is accomplished by introducing a clear electrolytic fluid such as saline through the hood and then discharging electrical energy through the visual electrode and through the saline to ablate the visualized tissue
Implementation Method 3
then discharging electrical energy through the visual electrode and through the saline to ablate the visualized tissue
Data Source
AI summary
A method of ablating a tissue region within a blood-filled environment comprises restraining a fluid within a visualization field in a portion of the blood-filled environment and visualizing the tissue region through the fluid within the visualization field. The method also includes transmitting ablating electrical energy from the fluid into the visualized tissue region.