Wound Closure Apparatus with Shape Memory Column
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) complications such as abdominal adhesions and port-site wound hernias pose challenges due to inadequate closure methods, which can lead to prolonged recovery, increased medical costs, and complications like bowel obstruction and herniation, particularly in obese patients and at specific anatomical locations.
Innovation Solution
A one-piece wound closure apparatus with a unidirectional ratchet-rivet mechanism and shape memory column that can be deployed without pneumoperitoneum or telescopic lens, providing a three-dimensional closure of the fascial defect, promoting tissue regeneration and healing by being biocompatible and bioabsorbable, thus reducing the risk of adhesions and hernias.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional suture methods are used to close fascial defects, then the closure process is time-consuming and difficult, but the risk of injuring underlying organs increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the needle and suture from the closure process, replacing them with a deployment device that delivers a closure element (plug or mesh) through a minimally invasive approach. This eliminates the time-consuming and dangerous manual suturing while maintaining effective fascial closure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a deployment device as an intermediary tool that delivers the closure element to the fascial defect. This mediator enables precise placement of the closure element without requiring direct manipulation of needles or sutures near vulnerable organs, thus improving safety while maintaining efficiency.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual suturing is performed in obese patients or at steep angles, then the closure may fail to capture sufficient wound edges, but the procedure becomes painstakingly difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment device is designed to self-position and self-align at the wound site. The device automatically captures sufficient wound edges through its mechanical design, eliminating the need for painstaking manual manipulation required in obese patients or at steep anatomical angles, thus improving both accuracy and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from manual needle manipulation to a mechanically-driven deployment system. This parameter change allows the closure element to be delivered with consistent precision regardless of patient body type or wound angle, overcoming the limitations of manual suturing in difficult anatomical scenarios.
3Reliability
If conventional closure devices are used, then the wound may not be fully sealed, but the risk of port-site hernia increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure element is designed as a composite structure combining absorbable and non-absorbable materials. This composite construction provides immediate strong sealing to prevent hernia, while the absorbable component promotes tissue regeneration. The combination ensures both reliable wound sealing and long-term hernia prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure element features a curved or rounded geometry that conforms to the cylindrical shape of the fascial defect. This spherical/curved design allows the element to fully seal the wound by adapting to the three-dimensional anatomy, ensuring complete closure and eliminating hernia risk that flat or rigid closures cannot prevent.
4Strength
If non-absorbable sutures are used for fascial closure, then the wound closes securely, but adhesion formation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter of the closure element from non-absorbable to absorbable or bioresorbable. This parameter change maintains adequate closure strength during the critical healing period while eliminating the long-term foreign body presence that causes adhesion formation, thus resolving the contradiction between secure closure and adhesion prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure element is designed to be temporarily present to provide necessary mechanical support for wound healing, then gradually absorbed by the body. This temporary presence provides secure closure when needed, then disappears to prevent adhesion formation, effectively discarding the closure element after it has served its protective function.
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 apparatus effectively and safely seals the fascial defect, reducing the risk of adhesions and hernias, facilitating rapid recovery, minimizing pain, and lowering healthcare costs by simplifying the closure process and ensuring optimal wound healing.
Implementation Method 1
The column may be constructed from a shape memory blend of natural and synthetic polymers
Implementation Method 2
the biohybrid scaffolds may be comprised of natural and/or synthetic polymers or copolymers... which, when exposed to living tissues of the body, may not cause damage or adverse biological reactions... may physiologically degrade and may be absorbed during a specific period of time
Data Source
AI summary
A wound closure apparatus can be a self-contained device for delivery and deployment of a tissue engineered wound plug that can secure fascial closure of laparoscopic port-site wounds. The wound plug can include a subfascial rivet head, a suprafascial rivet head, and a compressible column. Once in the wound, the wound plug may be deployed with the subfascial rivet head below the fascia of the wound and the suprafascial rivet head above the fascia of the wound. As this occurs, the column of the wound plug can be stationed within the opening of the wound. Once the wound plug is secured above, below, and within the fascial defect, the rivet heads may be interlocked within an inner channel of the column and remaining elements of the apparatus may be removed and discarded.