NISE Case Study
The Needle Guide
The Overview
This innovation significantly eases the use of ultrasound for the location of needles required for such procedures as drainage and biopsy. It offers an improvement over current devices which are on the market. The device featured herein was developed prior to having any knowledge of these devices and to the Trust purchasing the device which is currently being used. This medical device is a joint invention between a Consultant Radiologist and a Manager in the Prosthetics Department. They are both employed by Milton Keynes General NHS Trust, which is an acute trust based in the South East of England, serving a catchment population of 0.5 Million. A patent was filed for this device in early February 2006 and subsequently extensive discussions have been entered into with a major medical devices companies and ultrasound equipment manufacturers
The Problem
The necessity for this invention stemmed from three main problems which the Consultant radiologist faced. These being to simultaneously: guide a needle into the body using one hand and holding an ultrasound probe in the other, view the image on the monitor, and attend to the patient. The complexity of the above issues excludes junior level clinicians from carrying out these procedures, this results in increasing the work load on senior clinicians, preventing them from devoting their resource to more complicated cases.
The Solution and Commercial Potential
The innovation fits directly onto the ultrasound head and aids in the one handed location of needles for drainage, biopsy?s etc.
- Various prototypes were manufactured within the trust by the Prosthetics Dept manager
- These were trialled within the trust on various phantoms to assess the performance of the device and to ascertain whether it did indeed over come the problems identified above
- The world-wide market for such devices is estimated to be £70 Million annually
- Substantial time and cost savings by optimisation of the time required for each procedure
- Use of the device during the clinical training of medics, enables these procedures to be carried out by junior level clinicians.
- Thus freeing up the time of senior level clinicians?, enabling them to dedicate their time to more complex cases
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