GB2581320A

GB2581320A - Support apparatus for an ultrasound probe

Info

Publication number: GB2581320A
Application number: GB1820723.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Patle Rochin; Patle Vidhi
Original assignee: Medic Lead Ltd
Current assignee: Medic Lead Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-19
Filing date: 2018-12-19
Publication date: 2020-08-19
Also published as: GB201820723D0

Abstract

The support apparatus comprises a housing (10, figure 1) to accommodate the ultrasound probe, a support arm 24 e.g. a flexible metallic rod having one end connected to the housing, for instance by a ball 22 and socket 23 joint, and a clamp 26 provided on the other end of the support for attaching the support, for example to a stand or bed post. The support apparatus is configured to support the ultrasound probe so that its position is adjustable and remains in position once adjusted. A screw 25 may be tightened to fix the housing in position. The housing may be a resilient material, or a rigid material with a resilient joint. A flexible extension (28, figure 5) may support an additional medical instrument, such as an infrared light. The apparatus may enable the hands-free use of an ultrasound imaging probe by clinicians performing ultrasound-guided invasive clinical procedures.

Description

Support Apparatus for an Ultrasound Probe

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a support apparatus for an ultrasound probe which will enable the hands-free use of an ultrasound imaging probe by clinicians performing ultrasound-guided invasive clinical procedures.

Background of the invention

Ultrasound imaging is now widely used in performing invasive clinical procedures such as getting access to a difficult vein for blood sample collection, inserting venous cannula, injecting regional anaesthesia and analgesia in nerves for therapeutic and surgical purposes. These procedures are carried out by experienced anaesthetists and other trained skilled clinicians and nurses. Ultrasound imaging is very important to guide the clinicians so that they can perform these procedures efficiently.

These invasive procedures are conducted with strictly sterilized equipment to prevent any infection to the patient; thus only one clinician is involved in performing the invasive procedure with one hand using a sharp needle while holding the ultrasound probe in the other.

The current practice gives the clinicians the ability to manoeuvre the probe with one hand to locate the desired target vein or nerve, which would not be possible with a fixed probe holder. It is understandable that this practice requires good dexterity on the part of the clinician, and there is a steep learning curve for new or junior clinicians to acquire this skill.

Some situations require an assistant to support or hold the probe in a desirable way so that the other clinician can perform the procedure. This is more often noted in situations where the clinician or other clinical staff are performing procedures such as blood sample collection from a vein under ultrasound guidance in a patient with difficult veins, or while inserting a cannula or catheter.

It should also be noted that during all the ultrasound guided procedures mentioned above, the patient is wide awake and is not under any kind of sedation or general anaesthesia and thus there is a likelihood that the patient may change position or posture suddenly while the clinician is trying to perform the procedure.

The ultrasound probe transmits a very narrow beam of ultrasound waves which are reflected by the organs and received by the probe to form an image of the organ on the computer screen attached to the probe, through which the clinician can visualise the inserted needle in real time and perform the procedure. The requirement of this type of real time imaging is that the scanning surface of the ultrasound probe must be in direct contact with the skin of the patient just above the target vein or nerve.

International guidance by training colleges and governing institutes highly recommend continuous good quality ultrasound imaging while carrying out these invasive procedures.

Summary of the invention

The present invention provides a support apparatus for an ultrasound probe comprising a housing to accommodate the ultrasound probe; a support having one end connected to the housing; and means provided on the other end of the support for attaching the support to a fixed surface or object, wherein the support apparatus is configured to support the ultrasound probe in an adjustable manner so that its position can be adjusted and, once adjusted, is configured to remain in position to support the ultrasound probe in the adjusted position.

In this context, the fixed surface or object is not the patient.

Any suitable means for attaching the support to the fixed surface or object may be provided, including a clip or a clamp. A plurality of supports may be provided, with means for attaching provided on each.

In a preferred embodiment, the housing is resilient. This enables the ultrasound probe to be secured reliably. The housing may be made from a resilient material or it may be substantially rigid and provided with a resilient joint.

The support apparatus is configured to support the ultrasound probe in an adjustable manner. This may be achieved by connecting the support to the housing by means of a movable connection, such as a ball and socket joint. The ball and socket joint may be provided with means to fix the joint in position, such as a screw or clamp.

In a preferred embodiment, the support is a flexible arm.

The apparatus may include a second support for supporting an additional medical instrument, such as an infra-red light source. The second support may extend from the support connected to the ultrasound probe housing.

At least in preferred embodiments, the present invention overcomes the problem of keeping the ultrasound probe affixed to the patient while maintaining the sterile operating area and giving the clinician a clear view of the position of the midline of the probe to insert the needle to access the vein or the nerve as required in an invasive procedure, while being hands-free.

Known ultrasound probe holders were designed to hold the probe in a stable manner while attached to the patient. However, known devices have limitations in that they do not allow the clinician to move the probe in different directions to assess the position of desired target vein or nerve while performing the procedure, and they do not allow free access to the needle insertion site, to reach the target vein or nerve which is mostly at the contact of the patient skin and the midpoint of the scanning surface of the ultrasound probe, for injecting therapeutic agent, collection of a blood sample from a vein or inserting a cannula or catheter in the vein.

The previous devices also needed to be fully attached to the patient, which would not be ideal for procedures carried out in strictly sterile conditions.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig.1 shows a front view of part of a support apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a rear view of the part of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a support apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment; Fig. 4 shows part of the support apparatus of Figs. 1-3 in use; Fig. 5 shows the first embodiment in use with an additional support for a further medical instrument; Fig. 6 shows a support apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment; Fig. 7 shows an ultrasound probe for use with the second embodiment; and Fig. 8 shows the ultrasound probe of Fig.7 in use with the support apparatus of Fig. 6.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

There are two types of hands-free device we suggest could be useful in providing a hands-free flexible ultrasound probe holder for clinicians to perform ultrasound guided procedures.

With reference to Figs. 1-5, a support apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment is shown. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the apparatus includes a receptacle 10 made from rigid plastic having two side walls 11, 12, floor 13) and roof 14.

The sidewalls of the receptacle curve inwards to receive the ultrasound probe and fit snuggly. The outline of the sidewalls approximates to the shape of typical ultrasound probes used to perform the procedures.

The back wall of the receptacle is split into two parts vertically, and fixed with a spring attachment which enables the receptacle to expand/stretch to the appropriate size for the probe. This feature is helpful for the user to slide the probe into the receptacle firmly and for removing it with using just one hand with ease.

The outline of both sidewalls is curvaceous approximating to the curves of the handle of the ultrasound probe (bell shape), and then extends upwards and joins each other to end in a V-shaped notch 19 to form the roof of the receptacle to accommodate the wire connection of the ultrasound probe.

The floor 13 of the receptacle 10 is an open space formed by the lower by the lower concave border of the back wall 16 and its junction with the sidewalls. It accommodates the scanning area of the ultrasound probe and continues upwards with the free space bounded by the inner layer of the back wall 16 and the inward curving side walls 11, 12 and the roof 14 of the receptacle 10. This free space accommodates the handle and the body of the ultrasound probe.

The lower border of the back wall 16 joins the lower border of the side wall on both sides and is shaped concave towards the floor 13 of the receptacle 10.

Turning to Fig. 3, the outer layer of the first three fourths of the back wall 16 of the receptacle is provided with a round shallow plastic groove 20 from the centre of which rises a short rigid plastic or metal stalk 21 which ends as a rigid ball 22. The ball part of the receptacle fits into a ball shaped socket 23 at one end of flexible rod 24(19) which is bendable; this allows the receptacle 360 degrees of movement. The ball and socket joint of the rod has a screw 25 which can be tightened to fix or restrict the movement of the ball and socket joint, when needed. The other end of the hard flexible metallic rod is attached to a clamp 26 by which the whole flexible rod can be fixed to any stand or the bed post.

A diagram of the apparatus in use is shown in Fig. 4, including the ultrasound probe 100.

Infra-red (I-R) light is projected by specially developed near infra-red light source for the purpose of viewing difficult to find veins present up to 10 mm deep into the skin and not visible by naked eyes. Ultrasound is useful to view veins as deep as 25 mm below the skin surface.

These I-R light sources are usually the size of a simple torch or smaller and could be hand held or fixed in a stand.

We would also like to propose a variant of our invention of a hands-free ultrasound probe holder.

This is in the form of an attachment-cuff 27 made from light metal or plastic, which encases the flexible metallic rod 24), extending through a flexible extension 28 to end in a frame 29 suitable for enclosing an I-R light source 200.

This variant of our invention is specially designed to help providing hands free stand for ultrasound probe and I-R vein finder/viewer to help the clinical staff for the purpose of collecting blood sample by venesection or for inserting vein cannula.

With reference to Figs. 6-8, a support apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment is shown. As shown in Fig. 6, the support apparatus is generally shown as 50. The device consists of a pouch 51 for enclosing the body and handle of ultrasound probe firmly from all sides. The roof of the pouch is attached to a flexible plastic hollow tubular extension 52 to allow the passage of the wire connection of the ultrasound probe. Extension 51 leads to a space enclosed by the walls 53 of the pouch. The pouch may be made from elastic stretchable latex or similar nylon polyester material as in compression stockings, these could be sterilised and/or washable.

The floor of the pouch is empty space formed as an ovoid-shaped opening bounded on all sides by the lower border of the side walls 53 which is joined to form a hard rim by its attachment to two thin hollow flexible tubular pipes 54 connected end to end.

Each hollow thin tubular pipe contains within it a flexible string 55 throughout its length; the flexible strings are joined end to end to form a continuous loop, in such a way that pulling the ends of strings in two opposite directions will tighten the opening, which forms the floor of the pouch, as in purse strings.

The floor of the pouch 51 contains the lower part of the ultrasound probe body and the scanning end.

The whole pouch 51 as described above is attached on either end of the ovoid opening to two thin flat flexible plastic bands 56 formed in the shape of a semi arch. Each of these thin flat plastic bands 56 is provided with plastic towel clips 57, 58 on lower parts of both to enable anchoring of the pouch and plastic band arch system to the bed linen or another soft surface. On the upper part of each plastic band 56 is a hook 59 for tightening the flexible strings 55.

This device has provision to be connected to a plastic sheath covering used for covering the ultrasound probe holder wire through the outer part of flexible hollow plastic extension 52.

Figs. 7 and 8 show the ultrasound probe 100 and wire connection 101, Fig. 8 showing the second embodiment in use.

Compared to prior art devices, the ultrasound probe of the invention provides significant advantages, including those discussed above in the summary of the invention section.

The applicants envisage that the first embodiment may be manufactured and marketed as a disposable item for operating theatres and wards, for use in all suitable ultrasound guided procedures.

The second embodiment, comprising a combined ultrasound probe holder and the infrared light vein finder, may be marketed as a dedicated system for difficult vein access for the purpose of blood sample collection and venous catheter insertion by clinical staff. Thus, the product design is important: the connection of two types of vein viewing modalities in one equipment. The presence of two features in one equipment in a portable and easy attachment is unique to this invention and currently not available.

Claims

Claims 1. A support apparatus for an ultrasound probe comprising: a housing to accommodate the ultrasound probe; a support having one end connected to the housing; and means provided on the other end of the support for attaching the support to a fixed surface or object; wherein the support apparatus is configured to support the ultrasound probe in an adjustable manner so that its position can be adjusted and, once adjusted, is configured to remain in position to support the ultrasound probe in the adjusted position.
2. The support apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for attaching the support comprises a clamp.
3. The support apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the housing is resilient.
4. The support apparatus of claim 3, wherein the housing is made from a resilient material.
5. The support apparatus of claim 3, wherein the housing is rigid and provided with a resilient joint.
6. The support apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the support is connected to the housing by means of a movable connection.
7. The support apparatus of claim 6, wherein the movable connection is a ball and socket joint.
8. The support apparatus of claim 7, wherein ball and socket joint is provided with means to fix the joint in position.
9. The support apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the support is a flexible arm.
10. The support apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus includes a second support for supporting an additional medical instrument, such as an infra-red light source.
11. The support apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second support extends from the support connected to the ultrasound probe housing.