SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS
- Quadri C, Saporito A, Capdevila X. Real-time continuous monitoring of injection pressure at the needle tip for peripheral nerve blocks: description of a new method. Anaesthesia 2018;73:187–194.
- Saporito A, Quadri C, Capdevila X. The ability of a real-time injection pressure monitoring system to discriminate between perineural and intraneural injection of the sciatic nerve in fresh cadavers. Anaesthesia 2018;73:1118–1122.
- Saporito A, Quadri C, Kloth N, Capdevila X. The effect of rate of injection on injection pressure profiles measured using in-line and needle-tip sensors: an in-vitro study. Anaesthesia 2019;74:64–68.
- Saporito A, Quadri C, Steinfeldt T, Wiesmann T, Cantini L, Capdevila X. Early detection of intraneural and intravascular injections with real‐time injection pressure monitoring in cadavers. Acta Anaesth Scandinavica 2020;64:1513-1518.
- Steinfeldt T, Quadri C, Saporito A, Musiari M, Capdevila X, Wiesmann T. Injection pressure monitoring at the needle tip for detection of perineural and nerve-contact position: a cadaver study. Can J Anesth 2020;67:1076–1077.
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Dossi R, Quadri C, Capdevila X, Saporito A. Real time continuous monitoring of injection pressure at the needle tip is better than ultrasound in early detecting intraneural injection. RAPM 2024; Online first.
PRINCIPLE AND APPLICATION
The Smart Needle is a disposable sensing needle that provides accurate, objective, and easily understandable real-time continuous monitoring of the injection pressure at the needle tip, the real pressure in the tissues, for peripheral nerve blocks.
It consists of a standard peripheral nerve block (PNB) needle with an embedded fiber-optic pressure sensor that measures the injection pressure at the needle tip.
Throughout the PNB procedure, the anesthesiologist has visual feedback of the injection pressure, which allows him/her to safely and effectively perform a perineural injection in close proximity to the nerve, injecting at low pressure and thus avoiding inadvertent intraneural injection.
BENEFITS
The Smart Needle provides complementary information, injection pressure, to ultrasound-guided PNB procedures, in which anesthetic is injected in close proximity to a nerve or plexus to achieve anesthetic block, to facilitate the injection procedure and avoid excessive pressure of the injected anesthetic with the goal of:
- Increase safety by reducing the incidence of complications due to inadvertent intraneural injections.
- Increase effectiveness by enabling to safely inject perineurally, as close to the nerve as possible.
- Give to clinicians the possibility to prove their adherence to good clinical practice, for instance in case of medico-legal issues, by recording injection profiles.
