Tap block injection device

A device for performing a transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block anesthetic injection during a laparoscopic surgical procedure, said device comprising:

• a handle;
• a thumb-operated slider slidably disposed on a top of the handle, said slider having a slider lock button spring-biased toward notches in an interior surface of the top of the handle, where the slider lock button engages one of the notches to lock the slider in one of a plurality of positions relative to the handle and the slider lock button is depressed to unlock and move the slider, and the slider includes a magnet rod positioned transversely through the slider and the magnet rod is attracted into alignment with one of a plurality of opposing pairs of steel pins fitted into the handle, where each alignment of the magnet rod with one of the pairs of steel pins corresponds with slider lock button alignment with one of the notches;
• a hypodermic needle having a proximal end fixed inside the handle and a needle tip at a distal end outside the handle;
• a sheath concentrically disposed around the needle, said sheath being coupled to the slider on the handle, where the sheath is extendable to fully cover the needle tip and retractable to expose a portion of the needle tip via movement of the slider;
• an injection port tube extending from an end of the handle opposite the sheath, said tube having a first end fluidly coupled to the needle inside the handle;
• and
• a threaded luer attached to a second end of the tube, where a syringe connected to the threaded luer is operable to push a liquid anesthetic from the syringe through the tube, into the needle and out the needle tip.

A method for performing a transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block anesthetic injection during a laparoscopic surgical procedure, said method comprising:

• providing an injection device including a handle, a control mechanism on the handle, a hypodermic needle having a needle tip, and a sheath concentrically disposed around the hypodermic needle with said sheath coupled to the control mechanism on the handle, wherein the control mechanism is a thumb-operated slider slidably disposed along a top of the handle, and wherein the slider has a slider lock button biased toward notches in an interior surface of the top of the handle, wherein the slider lock button engages one of the notches to lock the slider and the sheath in position relative to the handle, and wherein the slider lock button is depressed to release the slider and extend or retract the sheath relative to the needle, wherein the injection device is provided in a first configuration where the sheath is extended to fully cover the needle tip of the hypodermic needle;
• inserting a distal end of the sheath into a laparoscopic port of a patient;
• positioning the distal end of the sheath at a target injection site;
• retracting the sheath after depressing the slider lock button to release the slider, to expose a desired length of the needle tip, using the control mechanism on the handle of the injection device;
• advancing the needle tip into muscle tissue at the target injection site;
• performing the anesthetic injection by expelling anesthetic from a syringe connected to a luer, where the luer is fluidly coupled to a first end of a tube and a second end of the tube is fluidly coupled to the hypodermic needle;
• advancing the sheath after depressing the slider lock button to release the slider to fully cover the needle tip using the control mechanism, thereby returning the device to the first configuration;
• and
• withdrawing the sheath from the laparoscopic port of the patient.