Hypodermic needle

Abstract

An improved hypodermic needle to greatly reduce or eliminate trauma to nerve fascicles during the injection of an anesthesia. The needle includes a solid, conically-shaped tip, preferably pointed, an elongated shaft having a hollow interior for delivering the anesthesia and one or more lateral openings strategically spaced away from the tip of the needle. The pinpoint tip of the needle separates the nerve fascicles without cutting them, also preventing intraneural pressurized injection of the anesthesia while allowing for dispensing of the anesthesia in the perineural space. In addition the needle may be used to further localize nerves to be blocked through electrical stimulation. In this embodiment the shaft of the needle has a coating of electrically insulating material or a plastic sleeve while the tip is non-insulated and appropriate circuitry is used in conjunction with the needle so treated. The needle may be withdrawn leaving the plastic sleeve in place to be used to repeat injections and prolong the time of blockage, or to reinforce a difficient block.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.