The depth of lumbar puncture needle insertion was recorded in 107 children. Height provided the best guide to the minimum and maximum depths of insertion. Mean depth of insertion (cm) = 0.03 x height of child (cm).

Central venous catheter (CVC) placement is an essential component of modern-day critical care. Its use was first documented by Werner Forssman in 1929, and Seldinger perfected the technique in 1953.(1) Although CVC insertion is a routine practice, it is not devoid of complications. We report a rare event in which the introducer needle shaft was fractured from its hub during CVC insertion in the...

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a soft tissue ablation technique suitable for treatment of inoperable tumours in the pancreas. The process involves applying a high voltage electric field to the tissue containing the mass using needle electrodes, leaving cancerous cells irreversibly damaged and vulnerable to apoptosis. Efficacy of the treatment depends heavily on the accuracy of needle pla...

The mechanical interaction between the surgical tools and the target soft tissue is mainly dictated by the fracture toughness of the tissue in several medical procedures, such as catheter insertion, robotic-guided needle placement, suturing, cutting or tearing, and biopsy. Despite the numerous experimental works on the fracture toughness of hard biomaterials, such as bone and dentin, only a ver...

In this paper, we present a system capable of automatically steering a bevel-tipped flexible needle under ultrasound guidance toward a physical target while avoiding a physical obstacle embedded in gelatin phantoms and biological tissue with curved surfaces. An ultrasound pre-operative scan is performed for three-dimensional (3D) target localization and shape reconstruction. A controller based ...

BACKGROUND Our goal was to develop a three-dimensional finite element model that enables dynamic analysis of needle insertion for soft materials. To demonstrate large deformation and fracture, we used the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method for fluid analysis. We performed ALE-based finite element analysis for 3% agar gel and three types of copper needle with bevel tips. METHODS To eva...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Intraosseous (IO) access is an alternative to difficult intravenous (iv) access during emergency clinical situations. Existing IO solutions are expensive, require power supply and trained manpower; limiting their use in resource constrained settings. To address these limitations, a novel IO device has been developed. The objectives of this study were to evaluate function...