ViewPoint Medical is a start-up developing AI powered assistive hardware to make it easier for clinicians to conduct common procedures requiring needle insertion. The product integrates with ultrasound probes to support challenging venepuncture (vein access) procedures with AI and laser projected guidance at the point of insertion.
Intranel has worked closely with ViewPoint from inception as their core technology partner, developing the primary system elements and assisting with IP protection and patent drafting.
Many patients have Difficult Vein Access (DVA), but as portable Ultrasound equipment becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous it offers the potential for better outcomes.
There is a significant challenge for clinicians in that a standard linear ultrasound probe only provides a single 2D image representing a vertical slice of tissue extending under the transducer. Currently the clinician must switch their focus between the patient and an ultrasound image on a display stand some distance away and utilise this to estimate an insertion point and angle that will result in the needle intersecting the ultrasound visible feature. Clinical data indicates this is difficult for most staff that don’t conduct the procedure on a highly regular basis, often resulting in 5 or more attempts. Multiple attempts causes increased patient stress, unnecessary tissue trauma, and excessive usage of scarce clinical time.
ViewPoint’s assistive AI tech enables non-specialist clinical staff to efficiently complete ultrasound guided procedures using portable, inexpensive equipment. The goal is a significant reduction in insertion failures, reduction in failure rates of cannulation, and fewer callouts for clinical assistance.
Device usage is designed to be simple and intuitive:
Touch screen enables selection of target feature from the ultrasound view
Laser projection on patients’ skin illuminates the correct insertion point
Continuous guidance on needle angle and penetration distance is provided to the clinician without disrupting their focus from the procedure site.
Procedures can be recorded and stored to cloud
To provide optimal clinical guidance and feedback it’s necessary to continuously track both the location and direction of the needle tip with reference to the target vein feature. By independently tracking probe and needle orientation relative to the skin surface as well as the target vein feature in the ultrasound view we can identify potential failure modes such as needle induced vein displacement and provide corrective feedback.
Intranel developed a combination of AI models and computer vision tools to enable real-time vein and needle tracking and feedback. We also built an AI model trained to identify unique skin features that when combined with tracking code provides an additional reference point for the sensor relative to the skin surface. This is particularly useful in being able to re-identify a particular procedure site on an individual patient.
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