• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2003

An assist device was developed to identify the epidural space by continously monitoring the air-filled catheter pressure. The pressure signal appropriately amplified and filtered enabled to alarm the needle introduction into the epidural space by thresholding detection. Ten LEDs provided a visual change of catheter pressure before alarming for user convenience. Clinical trials were performed in 30 patients with 83% success rate at the first trial. When failed, the second trial was enough for successful anesthesia. The air volume introduced during each anesthesia was less than 1ml, causing side effects. Air filling of the catheter could also minimize infection possibility. Therefore, the present device guarantees safe anesthesia with user convenience.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.135-138
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• 2005

Robotic devices have been widely used in many medical applications due to their accuracy and programming ability. One of the applications is a virtual reality medical simulator, which trains medical personnel in a computer generated environment. In this paper, we are going to present an application, an epidural anesthesia trainer. Because performing epidural injections is a delicate task, it demands a high level of skill and precision from the physician. This trainer uses a robotic device and computer controlled solenoid valve to recreate interaction forces between the needle and the various layers of tissues around the spinal cord. The robotic device is responsible for generation of interaction forces in real time and can be used to be haptic guidance that allows the user to follow a previous recorded expert procedure and feel the encountered forces.