Hate needles? This LIGHT will make giving blood easier: Device helps nurses peer ‘under’ the skin to pinpoint your veins
If you’ve ever given blood, you’ll know that even the most skilled nurses and doctors can struggle to locate the vein first time. So hospitals in the US are trialling a device that can locate veins inside a person’s arm using harmless near-infrared light. Called Christie VeinViewer, the device detects veins and then projects the image of them in real-time on top of the arm to help the medical worker know where to put the needle.
The medical system was designed by Memphis-based company Christie Medical Holdings.
It shows a picture of your veins directly on your skin’s surface, ‘hopefully saving you from the unnecessary pain of multiple needle stings,’ said the company.
The device attaches to a movable arm that can be wheeled into position, to keep it steady while observing a patient’s arm.
It works by emitting near-infrared light, which is absorbed by hemoglobin in the blood and then reflected by surrounding tissue.
The information is processed digitally by the unit, and projected in real-time onto the skin.
This provides an accurate image of the patient’s blood pattern. It can see patterns up to 0.6 inches (15mm deep), and veins up to 0.4 inches (10mm) deep.
A fine detail mode also increases the contrast in the image, bringing out more detailed vein formations. This can allow a clinician to find turns in a person’s veins, called bifurcations, and valves.
The user can also take up to 200 static images of patient vasculature - the arrangement of blood vessels in the body.
‘Only VeinViewer can provide pre, during and post-access benefits throughout the entire vascular access procedure,’ said Christie’s president, George Pinho.
‘It is also the only device of its kind that has been shown through clinical studies to increase both first-stick success and patient satisfaction by up to 100 per cent while reducing medically unnecessary [catheter] lines by over 30 percent.’
Source: Dailymail
Video: Insider
