Needle phobia is a recently defined medical condition that affects at least 10% of the population. Because persons with needle phobia typically avoid medical care, this condition is a significant impediment in the health care system. The etiology of needle phobia lies in an inherited vasovagal reflex of shock, triggered by needle puncture. Those who inherit this reflex often learn to fear needl...

We investigated manual needle and laser needle acupuncture as a complementary therapy for patients with burnout syndrome. Twenty patients with a mean age ± SD of 38.7 ± 8.4 years were assigned to two groups, each consisting of ten patients. One group was treated with manual needle acupuncture and the other with laser needle acupuncture. Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and a new score ...

The needle-warming technique combines acupuncture and moxibustion, and it is commonly practised in China to relieve pain conditions. However, burning of moxa has many disadvantages. This study examined the temperature and safety profiles of such technique. First, skin temperature changes during needle-warming were examined in anesthetized animals to determine the safe distance for needle-warmin...

Abstract Needle-like microstructures are often observed in shape memory alloys near macro-interfaces that separate regions with different laminate orientation. We study their a two-dimensional model based on nonlinear elasticity, contains an explicit parametrization of the needle profiles. Energy minimization leads to specific predictions for geometry needle-like domains. Our simulations optimi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Diagnostic test accuracy studies for ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration and ultrasonography-guided core needle biopsy have shown inconclusive results due to their heterogenous study designs. Our aim was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration versus ultrasonography-guided core needle biopsy for detecting malignant tum...

Flexible needle insertion into viscoelastic tissue is modeled in this paper with a linear beam supported by virtual springs. Using this simplified model, the forward and inverse kinematics of the needle is solved analytically, providing a way for simulation and path planning in real-time. Using the inverse kinematics, the required needle basis trajectory can be computed for any desired needle t...

Flexible needle insertion for percutaneous therapies is formulated in this paper as a trajectory planning problem of a linear beam, supported by virtual springs. Using this simplified model, the forward and inverse kinematics of the needle is solved analytically, providing a way for simulation and path planning in real-time. Using the inverse kinematics, the required needle basis trajectory can...

BACKGROUND Despite ultrasound guidance for central line placement, complications persist, as exact needle location is often difficult to confirm with standard two-dimension ultrasound. A novel real-time needle guidance technology has recently become available (eZono, Germany) that tracks the needle during insertion. This randomized, blinded, crossover study examined whether this needle guidance...