Implantation device

Abstract

The invention relates to an implantation device for implanting a vascular implant, which enables a vascular implant to be easily positioned and to be discharged in a slip-free manner.

Claims

1. An implantation device for implanting a vascular implant, comprising an internally toothed gear, one or more transport devices arranged adjacent to one another, each with a spindle and an externally toothed gear arranged coaxially to the spindle, which is firmly connected to the spindle, at least one adapter with a number of threads corresponding to the number of transport devices, wherein the gears of the one or more transport devices are in engagement with the internal thread of the internally toothed gear, and wherein the spindles of the one or more transport devices are each in engagement with one of the threads of the adapter, further comprising a tubular sheath which is connected at one of its ends to the adapter, a hypotube which is arranged over at least the length of the spindles, adjacent to the spindles of the one or more transport devices and parallel to them, and a catheter which is at least partially arranged within the hypotube.

2. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the internally toothed gear, the one or more transport devices and the adapter are arranged in a common housing, wherein the hypotube is held at a distal end of the housing and extends at least to an opposite proximal end of the housing and wherein the catheter is connected to the end of the hypotube at which the hypotube is held on the housing.

3. The implantation device according to claim 2, wherein the housing has at least two openings through which the internally toothed gear protrudes and can be rotated.

4. The implantation device according to claim 2, wherein the housing has a linear scale on an outer face, and wherein the adapter has an element which protrudes through an incision in the housing that extends parallel to the scale, adjacent to the scale.

5. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the hypotube is inserted into a wing element at the end at which it is held on the housing.

6. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the internal toothing of the internally toothed gear has 40 teeth, and wherein the gear(s) of the one or more transport devices each have 10 teeth.

7. The implantation device according to claim 1, further comprising a counter gear which is arranged inside the internally toothed gear and in engagement with the teeth of the gears of the transport devices.

8. The implantation device according to claim 7, wherein the counter gear is arranged coaxially to an axis of rotation of the internally toothed gear.

9. The implantation device according to claim 1, comprising exactly two transport devices which are arranged opposite each other with respect to the hypotube.

10. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the length of the spindles is in each case equal to or greater than 100 mm.

11. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the pitch of the spindles is 6 mm.

12. The implantation device according to claim 1, wherein the spindle is designed as a trapezoidal thread.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an implantation device according to the invention,

(3) FIG. 2 is a section through an internally toothed gear with externally toothed gears and a counter gear, and

(4) FIGS. 3 and 4 are examples of a sensor implant which can be implanted with the implantation device according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) FIG. 1 shows an example of an implantation device according to the invention as an exploded drawing. In the example shown, the implantation device has a housing 1 which is designed in two parts here with an upper shell 1a and a lower shell 1b. In the following, the left side of the housing will be referred to as the proximal side and the right side as the distal side. Two transport devices 2a and 2b are arranged in the interior of the housing, each having a spindle 3a, 3b and an externally toothed gear 4a, 4b. The spindles 3a, 3b and the externally toothed gears 4a, 4b of the transport devices 2a and 2b are each carried by a common shaft 5a and 5b, respectively.

(6) An adapter 6 is also arranged inside the housing 1, said adapter having two internal threads 7a and 7b in which the spindles 3a and 3b of the transport directions engage. The spindles 3a and 3b can be fixedly mounted in the proximal region of the housing and loosely mounted in the distal region.

(7) The adapter 6 has an element 8 which protrudes through an incision 9 in the upper shell 1a of the housing so that it is visible from the outside on the upper shell 1a. The upper shell 1a has a scale 10 along the incision 9. If the adapter 6 is displaced inside the housing, the element 8 is displaced along the scale 10, so that the position of the adapter 6 can be read on the scale 10.

(8) The housing has in its interior a wall 11 which delimits a proximal portion of the housing towards the distal side. The shafts 5a and 5b of the transport devices 2a, 2b pass through the wall 11. The externally toothed gears 4a, 4b of the transport devices 2a, 2b are then on the distal side of the wall 11.

(9) The spindles 3a, 3b are arranged in the proximal region of the housing. By rotating the spindles 3a, 3b, the adapter 6 can be displaced in this region of the housing between the proximal end of the housing and the wall 11.

(10) An internally toothed gear 12 is arranged in a region of the housing distal to the wall 11. In this region, the housing has two openings 13a and 13b through which the internally toothed gear 12 protrudes. The internally toothed gear 12 can be rotated from the outside through the openings 13a and 13b.

(11) The externally toothed gears 4a and 4b of the transport devices 2a and 2b are in engagement with the internal teeth of the internally toothed gear 12. Inside the internally toothed gear 12, there is also a counter gear 14 which is in engagement with both externally toothed gears 4a, 4b of the transport devices 2a, 2b. The counter gear 14 is coaxial with a cylinder axis of the internally toothed gear 12. A hypotube 15 runs inside the housing in such a way that it is exactly midway between the transport devices 2a and 2b. The adapter 6 has a through opening 17 midway between the internal threads 7a, 7b, through which the hypotube 15 runs, so that the adapter 6 can be displaced along the hypotube 15.

(12) The device shown in FIG. 1 has an inner catheter 16 which partially runs inside the hypotube 15. The catheter 16 is glued to the hypotube 15 at its distal end.

(13) The adapter 6 is connected to a sheath 18 on its proximal side. The connection between the sheath 18 and the adapter 6 can be established, for example, via a screw cap 20 and a stainless-steel ring with a chamfer 19. A socket 21 can be provided around the screw cap 20 and the stainless-steel ring 19 as protection against bending and kinking and for the exact guidance of the sheath 18 when it is removed.

(14) To secure the housing against rotation and transport, a stopper 22 can be provided which, for example, can be inserted through the incision 9 and blocks movement of the adapter 6 in the inserted state. For this purpose, the stopper 22 can have, for example, pegs which engage in corresponding openings on the top of the upper shell 1a.

(15) The hypotube 15 can be inserted at its distal end into a wing component 23, which lies in a region delimiting the housing in the distal direction.

(16) FIG. 2 is a section through the implantation device according to the invention of FIG. 1 in the region of the internally toothed gear 12. The section plane lies perpendicular to the longitudinal directions of the shafts 5a, 5b of the transport devices 2a, 2b.

(17) If the internally toothed gear 12 is rotated clockwise by a user as shown, then the externally toothed gears 4a, 4b of the transport devices 2a, 2b also rotate clockwise. The centrally arranged counter gear 4 is in engagement with the gears 4a, 4b and in this case rotates counterclockwise. The torque can be transmitted between the gears 4a, 4b through the counter gear 14.

(18) In the example shown, the internally toothed gear 12 has 40 teeth and the two externally toothed gears 4a, 4b each have 10 teeth. The gear ratio in the example shown is 4 and all teeth have a pressure angle of 20.

(19) If the length of the implant is 100 mm, it is advantageous if the path covered by the sheath 18 during implantation is at least 100 mm. In the example shown, the pitch of the thread flanks of the spindles 3a, 3b was set to 6 mm to cover this distance. In combination with the selected transmission ratio of the toothed gearing, a complete discharge of the implant with 4.16 revolutions of the internally toothed gear 12 is possible. The thread of the spindle can be designed as a trapezoidal thread, which is particularly suitable for the transmission of movements and forces.

(20) The scale 10 on the visible surface of the upper shell 1a in centimeters is used to read the process path covered.

(21) The implantation device of the invention can be used, for example, to discharge peripheral stents, to discharge several peripheral stents with defined spacings and to discharge stent grafts. In particular, it can be used to discharge vascular and cardiovascular implants.

(22) The implantation device according to the invention enables an implant to be easily positioned and to be discharged in a slip-free manner with higher force and torque transmission than is possible with systems of the prior art. By reducing the expenditure of force, the risk of the catheter moving relative to the sheath during the implantation process is reduced.

(23) The catheter system can be flushed via a Luer-Lock connector in the adapter 6. A guide wire, on the other hand, can be pushed through the wing element 23.

(24) FIG. 3 shows an example of a sensor implant which can be implanted with the implantation device according to the invention. The sensor implant comprises a printed circuit 33 with a first conductor loop structure 31 and a second conductor loop structure 32. The conductor loop structure 31 is applied to a front side of a substrate 34, facing the viewer in FIG. 3, and the second conductor loop structure 32 is applied to a rear side of the substrate 34 facing away from the viewer. The substrate 34 thus electrically isolates the first conductor loop structure 31 and the second conductor loop structure 32 from one another.

(25) The conductor loop structures 31 and 32 each have three coils in the example shown. Each of the conductor loop structures 31 and 32 has two straight regions which are parallel to one another and are connected to one another via two circularly curved regions. In the straight regions, the conductor paths run parallel to one another and straight and in the circularly curved regions, the conductor paths run along a circular line and parallel to one another for all coils of the same conductor loop structure. A first capacitive pressure sensor 35 is coupled to the first conductor loop structure 31. The capacitive pressure sensor 35 is coupled between the two ends of the conductor loop structure 31. Correspondingly, the conductor loop structure 32 has a second capacitive pressure sensor 36, which in turn is arranged between the two ends of the conductor loop structure 32. The first capacitive pressure sensor 35 forms with the first conductor loop structure 31 a first resonant circuit with a first resonance frequency. The second capacitive pressure sensor 36 forms with the second conductor loop structure 32 a second resonant circuit with a second resonance frequency.

(26) The first conductor loop structure 31 is wound around a winding axis, wherein the winding axis here penetrates the center point of the conductor paths of the conductor loop structure 31 and is perpendicular to the substrate 34, In a corresponding manner, the conductor paths of the second conductor loop structure 32 are wound around a second coil axis, which in turn runs through the center of the conductor path of the second conductor loop structure 32 and is perpendicular to the substrate 34.

(27) An implant as shown in FIG. 4 can be produced from the structure shown in FIG. 3 by bending the substrate 34 about an axis which runs parallel to the longitudinal sides of the substrate 34, which are parallel to the straight portions of the conductor loop structures 31 and 32. This direction will be referred to below as the Z direction.

(28) FIG. 4A shows this embodiment of the transponder in a first direction which is perpendicular to the Z direction and at an angle of 45 to the X-axis and the Y-axis. Section FIG. 4B shows the transponder viewed in the direction of the X-axis.

(29) The conductor loop structures 31 and 32 can advantageously be dimensioned such that, when the substrate 34 is bent in the manner described, the straight regions of the conductor loop structures are exactly diametrically opposite one another with respect to the axis about which the substrate 34 was bent. The substrate 34 is preferably bent into a circular shape in such a way that the coil axes of the first conductor loop structure and the second conductor loop structure 32 are at the desired angle to one another, preferably perpendicular to one another. The implantation device according to the invention is suitable for the implantation of such an implant.