Puncture system

A puncture system configured to automatically puncture a blood vessel in a hand of a patient with a puncture needle, the patient's hand including fingers and a thumb, the puncture system comprising:

• a grip to be gripped by the hand of the patient, the grip including a hole sized to receive the thumb of the patient's hand or at least one of the fingers of the patent's hand;
• a grip actuator that holds the grip and adjusts a posture of the grip;
• a puncture needle holder configured to hold the puncture needle and move the puncture needle toward and away from the grip;
• a puncture needle actuator operatively connected to the puncture needle holder to adjust a posture of the puncture needle;
• a blood vessel detection unit that detects a position of the blood vessel of the hand of the patient that grips the grip;
• and
• a control unit that determines, in accordance with the position of the blood vessel detected by the blood vessel detection unit and a relative posture of the grip and the puncture needle, a forward movement distance to move the puncture needle to puncture the blood vessel in the hand of the patient, and controls operations of the puncture needle holder based on the forward movement distance determined by the control unit.

A method of automatically puncturing a blood vessel in a hand of a patient with a puncture needle, the method comprising:

• detecting a position of a blood vessel in a hand of a patient while the hand of the patient is gripping a grip;
• determining a relative posture of the grip and the puncture needle, and a forward movement distance to move the puncture needle, using the detected position of the blood vessel;
• changing the posture of the grip and/or the puncture needle so that the relative posture of the grip and the puncture needle is the determined relative posture of the grip and the puncture needle;
• and
• moving the puncture needle the forward movement distance to puncture the blood vessel.