Project Description: 

In the ICU, 75% of patients require a central venous catheter for the rapid delivery of fluids or medicine into the vein during procedures. In 5-10% of these central line procedures, there is some form of complication, with the piercing of the artery being the most common at 7%. Our device, TriGuide focuses on decreasing these insertion complications in two ways. The first is to incorporate a flexible tripod onto the introducer needle in order to help stabilize the needle during particularly tricky parts of the procedure where the introducer needle has a chance of moving out of the vein, decreasing the risk of damage or having to restart the procedure. The second is to alert the user when they have pierced unwanted anatomy as soon as possible, which is achieved by putting a pressure sensor on the outside of the tip of the introduce needle and, if the artery is punctured, having the added circuit in the introducer needle send feedback from the pressure sensor up to the top of the syringe, where a light will flash and speaker will beep. With this feedback, users will be aware that they are in unwanted anatomy early to ideally stop the procedure before any further damage is done. With over 5 million ICU patients in America alone last year and $100-$200 average cost per kit, there is a $750 million market for this device, and since the current leading market shareholders do not focus on insertion complications, we believe there is a large opportunity for this type of device. Further, we aim for the TriGuide to be easier to use, therefore allowing NPs, PAs, and less experienced doctors to primarily take over these procedures, freeing up more experienced personnel for other procedures.