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US 2022/0175342 A1Published application
Echogenic needle
AssigneeSmiths Medical ASD, Inc.
InventorsAndrew Crisman, Alysa Lauren Granata
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSmiths Medical ASD, Inc.
InventorsAndrew Crisman, Alysa Lauren Granata
Estimating the term…
An echogenic needle may have at least one V-shaped spiral groove formed at its distal portion adjacent to its patient end. The walls of the groove are orthogonal to each other. The groove is titled at a given angle from a neutral position toward the proximal end of the needle so that when the needle is inserted into the patient at an insertion angle under ultrasound imaging, the ultrasound wave emitted from the ultrasound transducer is reflected in a substantially reverse direction back to the transducer by at least one wall of the spiral groove. A pair of crisscrossing grooves may be spirally wound about the distal portion of the needle with each groove being tilted to the given angle to enhance echogeneity. The echogeneity of the needle may also be enhanced by increasing the pitch density of each groove while maintaining the crisscrossing groves at their neutral position.
An echogenic needle including a shaft having a sharp distal tip and a proximal end with an outer circumferential surface made by the process of positioning a tool adapted to cut a groove having walls orthogonal to each other onto the outer circumferential surface of the needle so that walls having the same length would be formed onto the outer circumferential surface of the needle if the needle were to lie along a longitudinal axis relative to the tool at a neutral position, repositioning the needle and the tool relative to each other at an angle tilted away from the neutral position, and rotatably moving the tool and the shaft of the needle relative to each other to cut a spiral groove having a tilt angle relative to the neutral position onto the outer circumferential surface of at least one section of the needle.
A method of making an echogenic needle including a shaft having a sharp distal tip and a proximal end with an outer circumferential surface, comprising the steps of:
An echogenic needle including a shaft having a sharp distal tip and a proximal end with an outer circumferential surface having at least one section thereon adapted to reflect ultrasonic waves directed thereat in a substantially reverse direction made by the process of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.