Design and development of an epidural needle puncture and retraction device

Over 2 million epidural procedures are performed every year in the United States, but many result in complications caused by over puncture, where the needle punctures farther than the epidural space. A usable model of a previously developed flexure-based solution was made and utilized in designing a new epidural device which may reduce the risk of over-puncture. A clinical background of epidurals is presented, along with the usable model and new design. Prototypes were manufactured and tested to validate the model and fabrication method. Potential improvements and future steps are outlined. The proposed device has the potential to minimize epidural complications and the model may also be used to expand the number of applications of this flexure-based solution to over puncturing.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Xu, Alan K

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alexander H. Slocum.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83758

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/83758