General Purpose Needle Guides

Ultrasound Needle Guides: Quicker & More Accurate Ultrasound Guidance

General purpose needle guides are tools designed to provide more precision during ultrasound-guided interventions. They improve needle visualization and patient safety. They also reduce procedure time and patient discomfort.

• Reduces the number of attempts to reach a target
• Procedures are less traumatic for patients
• Improves needle placement accuracy
• Provides a predictable needle path, with the help of on-screen guidelines

Ultrasound needle guides are indicated for the following applications: radiology, anesthesia, pain management, and vascular access.

Needle guides attach to the ultrasound transducer, directly or with a bracket, and improve needle placement accuracy and needle visibility.

These guides will hold the needle in place: in the ultrasound plane for In-Plane approaches, or perpendicular to the ultrasound beam for Out-of-Plane procedures.

Ultrasound needle guides keep the needle on a predictable path, leading to improved workflow and reduced procedure time. During In-Plane approaches, the needle is constantly held in the ultrasound plane for increased visualization.

The constant tracking of the tip and shaft of the needle allows for a reduced needle manipulation and a facilitated navigation toward hard-to-reach targets.
The patient safety and confort are improved as the risks of damaging surrounding structures are minimized.

Needle Guides for Radiology

In radiology, general purpose needle guides are used for numerous applications including:

• Biopsy: kidney, liver, thyroid, breast or pancreas
• Fine needle aspiration (FNA): thyroid, breast, liver
• Drainage: lungs, abdomen

Used for biopsies, needle guides help decrease the procedure time by 68% compared to freehand technique. This benefit is greatest for inexperienced operators. (1) General purpose needle guides are especially beneficial for deep-tissue biopsies or when dealing with bariatric patients.

(1) Phal PM, Brooks DM and Wolfe R. (2005). Sonographically Guided Biopsy of Focal Lesions: A Comparison of Freehand and Probe-Guided Techniques Using a Phantom. Full Study

Needle Guides for Anesthesia & Pain Management

Ultrasound needle guides are proven to reduce procedure time and improve patient safety during nerve blocks. They are used for the following blocks:

• Axillary
• Femoral
• Infraclavicular
• Supraclavicular
• Popliteal
• Interscalene
• Spinal epidural
• Lumbar plexus
• Peripheral nerve

They are also used in pain management for joint injections, and stem cell or PRP therapies.

Decreased Procedure Time

Used for nerve blocks, ultrasound needle guides helped decreased the mean procedure time from 43 seconds to just 16 seconds. The median procedure time dropped from 33 to 10.5 seconds. 

Improved Needle Visibility

Needle visualization was also increased by 78% with the help of a needle guide.