Cryoablation system
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of medical instruments, in particular to a cryoablation system.
Background
Cryoablation systems, which refer to devices for freezing and destroying abnormal cells or diseased tissue by using cryogenic techniques, are used to treat a variety of cancers and arrhythmias, including cryoablation devices and catheters. In cryoablation, cryoablation devices are connected to ablation devices, such as ablation needles and balloon catheters, and low temperature is generated at a treatment site by introducing working media such as nitrogen, argon or carbon dioxide into the ablation devices, so that diseased tissues are frozen. Cryoablation is a common interventional treatment technology in surgery, and compared with thermal ablation, the interventional treatment technology has the characteristics of high safety, small stimulation and damage to natural cavity wall tissues of a human body and difficulty in causing complications, so that the interventional treatment technology is increasingly applied to clinical surgery.
The method for obtaining the frozen working medium mainly comprises the steps of obtaining the frozen working medium through a Joule Thomson throttling principle and obtaining the frozen working medium through a heat exchange mode. The former has high working pressure and insufficient safety, and the latter is more convenient and efficient and safer and more reliable. Taking the example of obtaining the frozen working medium by heat exchange, the frozen working medium with certain pressure is introduced into the heat exchanger, and the frozen working medium is transferred into the ablation instrument after the phase change of the heat exchange.
After the working medium is condensed into frozen working medium through the heat exchanger, the frozen working medium is conveyed to the freezing end of the catheter, so that heat in tissues around the freezing end of the catheter is rapidly absorbed, and cryoablation is formed at the freezing end. However, when the frozen working medium is conveyed in the pipeline after passing through the heat exchanger, the frozen working medium is vaporized due to unavoidable heat exchange with the pipeline, the external environment and the like, so that the phenomenon of pressure surge of the pipeline occurs in the instant of liquid discharge. The pressure surge can have adverse effects on the catheter, the conveying pipeline and components thereon, can affect the service lives of the pipeline components and components thereon, and the like, and can cause burst of the catheter balloon under severe conditions, thereby endangering the life and health of patients.
Therefore, how to solve the phenomenon that the pressure of the refrigerating working medium is increased during pipeline transportation, and the manufacturing of the stable and reliable cryoablation equipment with good refrigerating effect is a problem to be solved at present.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a cryoablation system, which is characterized in that a one-way valve is arranged between a freezing pipeline and a rewarming pipeline to form an air guide circulation, so that the pressure increased by the phase change of a freezing working medium in the pipeline is relieved.
The invention provides a cryoablation system which comprises an air source, a rewarming pipeline, a freezing pipeline and an output connector, wherein the rewarming pipeline is connected with the freezing pipeline in parallel, the freezing pipeline comprises a heat exchanger, working medium flows in from an inlet end of the heat exchanger, flows out from an outlet end of the heat exchanger after being converted into frozen working medium in the heat exchanger, the outlet end of the heat exchanger is communicated with the output connector, the cryoablation system further comprises a one-way valve, an inlet end of the one-way valve is communicated with the output connector, an outlet end of the one-way valve is communicated with an inlet end of the heat exchanger, and when pressure is increased suddenly, the one-way valve is conducted, so that part of the freezing pipeline is communicated with part of the rewarming pipeline to form a pressure stabilizing passage.
Further, the rewarming pipeline comprises a rewarming electromagnetic valve and a first pressure sensor which are sequentially connected, the freezing pipeline comprises a freezing electromagnetic valve and a heat exchanger which are sequentially connected, the inlet end of the one-way valve is connected between the rewarming electromagnetic valve and the first pressure sensor, and the outlet end of the one-way valve is connected between the freezing electromagnetic valve and the heat exchanger.
Further, a switch device is arranged on the rewarming pipeline, and the switch device is opened to communicate the rewarming pipeline with the atmosphere for pressure relief.
Further, the output joint is connected between the rewarming pipeline and the freezing pipeline and is connected with external equipment, and the output joint is used for conveying the freezing pipeline or working media in the rewarming pipeline to the external equipment.
Further, the one-way valve is used for conducting the working medium in the freezing pipeline to the rewarming pipeline in one way.
Furthermore, a high-pressure proportional valve is arranged at the outlet of the air source and is connected with a second pressure sensor.
Further, a third pressure sensor is arranged at the output joint.
Further, the one-way valve is an electric ball valve or an electric needle valve.
Furthermore, the output joint can be communicated with at least three pipelines, wherein the three pipelines are the rewarming pipeline, the freezing pipeline and the pipeline of the external equipment respectively.
The invention further provides a cryoablation system which comprises an air source, a rewarming pipeline, a freezing pipeline and an output connector, wherein the rewarming pipeline is connected with the freezing pipeline in parallel, the freezing pipeline comprises a heat exchanger, working medium flows in from an inlet end of the heat exchanger, flows out from an outlet end of the heat exchanger after being converted into frozen working medium in the heat exchanger, the outlet end of the heat exchanger is communicated with the output connector, at least two pressure relief devices are connected to the rewarming pipeline, each pressure relief device comprises an unloading valve and a pressure relief electromagnetic valve, the unloading valve is communicated with the atmosphere, and the pressure relief electromagnetic valve is arranged between the rewarming pipeline and the unloading valve and controls the corresponding valve to be opened according to the requirement of external equipment of the cryoablation system.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has at least the following beneficial effects:
1. In the prior art, the freezing pipeline and the rewarming pipeline are independent, and respectively act when the pipeline is conducted, so that the pipeline pressure is increased rapidly when the freezing working medium changes phase, the pipeline safety can only be ensured by relying on the pressure relief mode to the outside, and the pipeline pressure increase cannot be controlled effectively. According to the invention, the one-way valve is arranged between the freezing pipeline and the rewarming pipeline, and the air guide loop is formed in the system, so that the pressure which is increased by the phase change of the freezing working medium in the pipeline is relieved, the working pressure in the system is stabilized, and the pressure safety and the working effect in the system are ensured.
2. And a plurality of pressure relief devices are arranged, each pressure relief device corresponds to a conduit of a determined type, and the corresponding pressure relief device is controlled to be opened after the system identifies the conduit of the type, so that the system has higher selectivity.
Drawings
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a connection relationship of a cryoablation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a connection relationship of a cryoablation system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 3 shows a pressure versus time graph for a cryoablation system without a check valve.
Fig. 4 is a pressure versus time graph of a cryoablation system provided with a one-way valve.
The air source 11, the rewarming pipeline 12, the freezing pipeline 13, the output connector 14, the rewarming electromagnetic valve 121, the first pressure sensor 122, the freezing electromagnetic valve 131, the heat exchanger 132, the one-way valve 16, the pressure relief device 17, the unloading valve 171, the pressure relief electromagnetic valve 172, the high-pressure proportional valve 18, the second pressure sensor 19, the third pressure sensor 20, the external equipment 21 and the switching device 22.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples do not represent all implementations consistent with the invention. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with aspects of the invention as detailed in the accompanying claims.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used herein should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. As used in the specification and claims hereof, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or the like are intended to cover an element or article appearing before "comprising" or "comprising," and equivalents thereof, but do not exclude other elements or articles. The terms "connected" or "connected," and the like, are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect.
In the invention, the inlet end and the outlet end are determined by the flowing direction of the working medium, the inlet end refers to the end of the working medium flowing in relative to the element, and the outlet end refers to the end of the working medium flowing out relative to the element.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Embodiment one:
As shown in fig. 1, the invention provides a cryoablation system which comprises an air source 11, a parallel-connected rewarming pipeline 12, a freezing pipeline 13 and an output joint 14 which are sequentially connected. The rewarming pipeline 12 comprises a rewarming electromagnetic valve 121 and a first pressure sensor 122 which are sequentially connected, the freezing pipeline 13 comprises a freezing electromagnetic valve 131 and a heat exchanger 132 which are sequentially connected, the rewarming pipeline further comprises a one-way valve 16, the inlet end of the one-way valve 16 is connected between the rewarming electromagnetic valve 121 and the first pressure sensor 122, the outlet end of the one-way valve 16 is connected between the freezing electromagnetic valve 131 and the heat exchanger 132, gas can be guided from the rewarming pipeline 12 to the freezing pipeline 13 at the one-way valve 16, the output joint 14 is at least a three-way joint, the inlet end of the output joint is communicated with the rewarming pipeline 12, the outlet end of the output joint is communicated with the freezing pipeline 13, and the third end of the output joint is used for being connected with external equipment 21 such as a freezing catheter or a freezing probe.
When the cryoablation system is started, after the working medium is released from the air source 11, the freezing electromagnetic valve 131 of the freezing pipeline 13 is opened, the rewarming electromagnetic valve 121 is closed, the one-way valve 16 prevents the working medium from directly flowing through the rewarming pipeline 12, the working medium is condensed to form a freezing working medium after heat exchange of the heat exchanger 132, and the freezing working medium is conveyed to the output joint 14 under the pressure effect. As the external device 21 of the output joint 14 is exposed to the normal temperature environment, part of the frozen working medium in the middle of transportation can be evaporated to form gaseous frozen working medium, so that the working pressure of the frozen pipeline 13 is increased. The check valve 16 is arranged to enable the part of the freezing pipeline 13 to be communicated with the part of the rewarming pipeline 12, so that an air guide loop is formed, namely, working medium passes through the heat exchanger 132, the output joint 14, the first pressure sensor 122, the check valve 16 and the heat exchanger 132. The air guide loop can relieve the condition of pressure surge of a pipeline caused by the phase change of the heat exchange of the freezing working medium and the environment into the gaseous state, thereby achieving the effect of stabilizing pressure, and when the cryoablation system rewarms, the rewarming electromagnetic valve 121 at the rewarming pipeline 12 is opened, and the freezing electromagnetic valve 131 is closed. The working medium directly passes through the rewarming pipeline 12 to reach the output joint 14, and is converted into the frozen working medium without passing through the heat exchanger 132, so that the rewarming effect can be achieved, the cryoablation effect of the operation is enhanced, and the complications are reduced compared with the working medium with higher temperature passing through the heat exchanger 132.
The check valve 16 may be an integrated solenoid control device that enables remote control of the opening and closing of the check valve 16. The check valve 16 is preferably a low temperature resistant electronic component having an on-off function, such as an electric ball valve, an electric needle valve, etc., and when such an electronic component is used, the electronic component must be opened or closed simultaneously with the freezing electromagnetic valve 131 to achieve the same effect as the check valve 16.
The air source 11 is provided with a high-pressure proportional valve 18 and a second pressure sensor 19, the second pressure sensor 19 and the high-pressure proportional valve 18 jointly act, the second pressure sensor 19 is used for measuring the air outlet pressure when the working medium comes out of the air source 11, the high-pressure proportional valve 18 is used for realizing accurate control of the air outlet pressure and/or flow of the working medium, and after the air outlet pressure is fed back to the controller by the second pressure sensor 19, the flow and/or pressure of the working medium is regulated by the high-pressure proportional valve 18 so as to ensure the freezing effect and the safety of the cryoablation system.
The output joint 14 is provided with a third pressure sensor 20, the third pressure sensor 20 can measure the pressure at the output joint 14, the third pressure sensor 20 can also feed back pressure data to the controller so as to control the high-pressure proportional valve 18 to correspondingly adjust, and in addition, when the value monitored by the third pressure sensor 20 exceeds a preset pressure threshold value, the controller can also alarm through connecting an alarm. On the one hand, the working medium becomes the frozen working medium through the heat exchanger 132, the pressure in the pipeline and the conduit can change, and the third pressure sensor 20 can monitor the pressure change and make the system alarm and control the flow of the working medium based on the dynamic pressure change. On the other hand, the third pressure sensor 20 is a connection part between the cryoablation system and the external equipment 21, and the safety use pressures of the cryoablation external equipment 21 of different types and specifications are different, so that the safety use of the cryoablation external equipment 21 can be ensured. In addition, the output connector 14 may be a four-way connector, and the third pressure sensor 20 is integrated on the output connector 14 to improve the system integration.
The switch device 22 is connected to the rewarming pipeline 12, the switch device 22 is in communication with the atmosphere to release pressure, the switch device 22 may be a solenoid valve connected to the controller, and the solenoid valve is opened or closed according to pressure data feedback of the first pressure sensor 122 of the rewarming pipeline 12. The switching device 22 may be a switching device 22 in which a safety pressure threshold of the system is set, and a safety valve automatically releases pressure exceeding the safety pressure threshold.
Embodiment two:
As shown in fig. 3, unlike the first embodiment, the second embodiment uses a plurality of unloading valves to stabilize pressure and balance air pressure fluctuations in the pipeline. Wherein, at least two pressure relief devices 17 are connected on the rewarming pipeline 12, and the pressure relief devices 17 are a combination of an unloading valve 171 and a pressure relief electromagnetic valve 172. When a cryoablation system is used for matching multiple types of catheters or probes (i.e. the catheters or probes connected by the output connector 14), multiple unloading valves 171 can be arranged on the rewarming pipeline 12, each unloading valve 171 corresponds to a certain type of catheter, the threshold value of each unloading valve 171 is determined by the working pressure of the corresponding catheter, a pressure relief electromagnetic valve 172 or other on-off components are arranged between the unloading valve 171 and the rewarming pipeline 12, and after the equipment identifies the type of the catheter, the pressure relief electromagnetic valve 172 and the freeze electromagnetic valve 131 corresponding to the catheter are controlled to be simultaneously opened, and the other pressure relief electromagnetic valves 172 are controlled to be closed. So arranged, the system has high selectivity.
Fig. 3 is a graph showing the variation of the working pressure with the freezing time without the check valve 16. Fig. 4 is a graph showing a variation of the check valve 16. Compared with the system without the check valve 16, the system with the check valve 16 has the advantages that the fluctuation range of the working pressure is small and is closer to the set pressure of the system, so that the technical scheme of the invention has better pressure stabilizing effect.
Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This invention is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown in the drawings, which have been described above, and that various modifications and changes may be effected without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims.