The technique for traditional epidural needle placement is called "loss of resistance," which is a subjective method that is totally dependent on operator's hand feeling while the needle punctures the ligamentum flavum and gets into the epidural space (ES). The technique for ES detection in regional anesthesia by using two-wavelength fiber optic technique has been demonstrated and shown very promising results years ago. Although the character of this technology for tissue discrimination is excellent, it still cannot foresee the obstacle in front of the pathway of the needle placement. Thus, a specific form of ultrasound probe with 4.7 MHz and 12-61 mm focal depth, 1.35 mm focal width has been developed to incorporate with the fiber optical technique that can provide a guiding direction for searching no obstacle pathway for needle placement. The feature of the combined two technologies is that the direction of needle insertion is the same as the beam direction of the ultrasound probe. Very promising results are demonstrated in vivo experiments at the region of lumbar vertebrae in porcine model...
Date:
2013-12
Relation:
2013 International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Engineering. 2013 Dec;145:115-122.
