Insertion mechanics of bioinspired needles into soft tissues

Abstract

Introduction: Most studies to date confirm that any increase in the needle insertion force increases the damage to the tissue. When it comes to brain tissue, even minor damage can cause a long-lasting traumatic brain injury. Thus there is a great demand for innovative minimally invasive needles among the medical community. In our previous studies a novel bioinspired needle design with specially designed barbs was used to perform insertion tests into Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tissue-mimicking gels, in which it decreased the insertion force by as much as 25%.

Material and methods: In this work, bioinspired needles were designed using a CAD software, and were then manufactured using a 3 D printer. The insertion tests into bovine brain and liver were then performed to further investigate the performance of our bioinspired needles in real tissues.

Results: Our results show that there was a 10-25% decrease in the insertion force for insertions into bovine brain, and a 35-45% reduction in the insertion force for insertions into bovine liver using the proposed bioinspired needles.

Conclusion: The reduction in the insertion force is due to the decrease in the friction force of the bioinspired needle with the bovine tissues, and its results are consistent with our previous results.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Surgical needle
• insertion force
• biomimetic
• minimally invasive procedure
• bioinspired needle

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of Temple University’s Center of Excellence in Traumatic Brain Injury Research.

Declaration of interest

Authors declare no conflict of interest.