A venipuncture detection system for robot-assisted intravenous catheterization

Vascular access is frequently required for patients admitted to hospitals. This requires a delicate process of intravenous (IV) catheterization that, as opposed to common believe, suffers from a high failure rate typically close to 30%. In case of special patients such as infants, the elderly, and people with diabetes or other health conditions that affect blood vessels, the challenge to achieve intravenous access is higher, leading to an even lower venipuncture success rate. Stopping the needle before the first vein wall or going completely through the vein are the common causes of failure, and can potentially cause severe damage to the soft tissue. In this study we propose a new robotic system to improve the venipuncture procedure. The system is based on a high resolution motion stage and a new detection system able to measure the electrical impedance of tissue around the IV needle tip. This detection system allows the discrimination of the different tissue types accessed during the insertion process, and a fast and robust detection of vein entry by detecting blood. This paper presents the design and development of this new robot-assisted venipuncture system. Experiments in realistic phantoms were designed and undertaken for the system's evaluation, which also demonstrated the effective performance of the proposed venipuncture detection system.