Project Description:

Every year in the United States, 360,000 lumbar punctures are performed. The procedure involves a clinician inserting a needle into the patient’s lumbar spine, either between the L3 and L4 vertebrae, or between the L4 and L5. However, clinicians don’t have an accurate method of finding the correct location for lumbar punctures. Providers must use their hands to identify the gaps between vertebrae, then guess the angle of insertion to reach the epidural space where cerebrospinal fluid is found. This imprecise method leads to a 28% failure rate among unguided lumbar punctures. Guided lumbar punctures use X-ray or fluoroscopy technology to increase accuracy, at cost to the patient and the hospitals – around $84 million.
Our project aims to increase the accuracy of first insertion lumbar punctures without using external guidance systems. With our external angular guide, providers can visualize the angle they are inserting at, allowing for a greater degree of precision and accuracy during punctures. We added guiding lines at the 10, 15, and 20 degree angles, which research shows are the best angles for inserting into the epidural space. Additionally, by building in a port to collect cerebrospinal fluid, we eliminate some pieces from the lumbar puncture kit, speeding up the process and giving providers the ability to see more patients. The device was tested for both speed and accuracy among first time users, and achieved both a 80% accuracy rate which surpassed the prior 72% and a time of 6 minutes and 45 seconds on average, which is 55% faster than the time taken for procedures that are single pass. The time taken to use our device is 73% faster than a fluoroscopy procedure. With an improvement to speed and accuracy, our device aims to reduce the 101,000 annual failed lumbar punctures to near zero.