Medical tool for reduced penetration force with feedback means

Inventors

Frankhouser, Paul L. • Mulvihill, Maureen L. • Park, Brian M.

Assignees

Actuated Medical Inc

Abstract

A medical device for reducing the force necessary to penetrate living being tissue using a variety of reciprocating motion actuators, including piezoelectric, voice coil, solenoids, pneumatics or fluidics. The reciprocating actuator drives a penetrating member, such as a needle, through the tissue at a reduced force while the device detects the passage of the penetrating member through the tissue. Upon passage of the penetrating member through the tissue, electrical power to the reciprocating actuator is automatically terminated. One exemplary method for detecting this passage is via a fluid-containing syringe that is coupled to a channel within the penetrating member. Once the penetrating member tip has passed through the living tissue, the fluid within the syringe no longer experiences any pressure and a plunger within the syringe displaces indicating passage of the penetrating member tip. This motion can provide direct tactile feedback to an operator of the medical device or can automatically open a switch providing electrical power to the medical device. Alternatively, a pressure transducer can also monitor the pressure within the penetrating member channel and automatically activate the switch to cut off the electrical power.

Core Innovation

A handheld medical device penetrates living being tissue with a penetrating member that is vibrated to reduce the force needed to penetrate the living being tissue. The penetrating member is coupled to a driving actuator, and the driving actuator causes the vibration when energized. The device includes an electrical power cut off that automatically de-energizes the driving actuator when the penetrating member has passed through the living being tissue, stopping further driving action.

The automatic electrical power cut off is initiated by monitoring fluid pressure through a side port. Fluid is introduced through the side port and into the penetrating member, and fluid pressure monitoring is used to detect passage through tissue and to initiate the automatic electrical power cut off. In the described embodiments, the feedback can be implemented via loss-of-resistance feedback using a fluid-filled syringe connected to a channel through the penetrating member, or using a pressure transducer connected to the fluid pressure monitoring arrangement.

The device further specifies structural guidance for integrating the feedback port or channel with the actuator structure. The side port has a longitudinal axis that intersects a longitudinal axis of a bore and is oriented at a non-parallel angle at the intersection, while the longitudinal axis of the bore is oriented at a parallel angle to a longitudinal axis of the penetrating member. The bore is located in a displaceable body of an actuator horn displaced when the driving actuator is energized, and the side port is located in the displaceable body.

Claims Coverage

The document explicitly identifies one independent claim and describes a medical device architecture that includes vibrating tissue penetration, automatic actuator de-energization based on fluid-pressure monitoring through a side port, and a specific geometric arrangement of the side port axis relative to the bore axis and the penetrating-member axis. The claim includes additional structural placement of the bore and side port within a displaceable body of an actuator horn.

Across the independent claim, the core coverage combines vibrating penetration to reduce required force, automatic de-energization of the actuator after the penetrating member passes through tissue, and initiation of that cut off by monitoring fluid pressure via a side port with a specified axis geometry relative to the bore and penetrating member, with the bore and side port located in a displaceable body of the actuator horn.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications