AKUS INNOVATION IN ANAESTHESIA S.L.

Spinal needles

AKUS spinal anaesthesia needles have the following features:

A new needle hub design developed in collaboration with anaesthetists, designers, and engineers. The result is an extraordinarily ergonomic needle hub, which facilitates the use of spinal needles for performing the anaesthetic technique.

Easy selection of the right grip from the first contact.

Possibility to grip the needle in all possible, comfortable, and logical ways.

Its extraordinary and ergonomic design facilitates a fast and safe location of the intrathecal space, avoiding excessive unwanted punctures that damage the needle and harm the patient.


ERGONOMICS AND ACCURACY
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF HUB FOR EACH NEEDLE

Quincke tip needles have a specific grip that easily differentiates them from Whitacre needles, clarifying the needle type and avoiding confusion.

A small magnifying glass in the needle hub provides a quick view of the CSF.


TYPES OF SPINAL NEEDLES

AKUS Spinal includes Whitacre pencil-point spinal needles available in 22G, 23G, 25G, 26G, and 27G gauges.

Quincke : 22G, 25G, 26G, and 27G.

They are made of high-strength surgical steel that provides an extraordinary balance between tenacity and deflection, preventing the deformation of the needle even when patients undergo a very complex puncture.

The tip of the needle has a larger hole, which provides a high CSF output flow, obtaining a quick view of the CSF.

The AKUS needles’ connection cone has a new design that facilitates a perfect fit of Luer-lock and Luer-slip syringes. Such a precise fit prevents unwanted leakage of anaesthetic solution, even at high infusion pressures.

The larger tip hole facilitates the administration and distribution of drugs within the subarachnoid space.

Tuohy-tip needle with centimetre depth markings, 80 mm and 95 mm long. Available in gauges 16G, 18G, and 20G. Ergonomic hub with large wings and anatomical shape. 2.- Epidural catheter, with soft tip, manufactured in PEBAX® with centimetre markings in the first 20 cm. Radiopaque, 90 cm long, and available in different gauges, from 1 mm to 0.60 mm. 3.- 6ml LOR syringe adapted to perform the air or saline loss of resistance technique. 4.- 0.2 µ filter. 5.- Innovative yellow and red stickers to distinguish if the catheter is epidural or intrathecal. 6.- Transparent bandage to fix the catheter outlet to the back. 7.- Innovative high-resistance sandwich-like catheter connector, easy to place and close, with reopening allowed.

MPORTANT CHANGES TO IMPROVE THE EPIDURAL TECHNIQUE FROM BEGINNING TO END Tuohy tip with intermediate edge adapted to penetrate skin and tissues avoiding unseen punctures of dura mater. Large wings that provide a great grip, which improves the accuracy of needle insertion. A low-resistance syringe that is very sensitive to epidural space detection with both air and saline. ULTRA-SOFT tip catheter that prevents the dura mater piercing and the introduction of the catheter into a blood vessel. The soft tip cap enables outflow, giving a unique feature to the catheter: THE OPEN CAP ACTS AS A CLOSED CATHETER. SANDWICH-LIKE catheter connector with a unique ‘EASY TO CLOSE, DIFFICULT TO OPEN’ design, which enables the anaesthetist to close it easily and precisely, but prevents accidental opening or unwanted handling by unauthorised personnel.

FINALLY A COMBINATION (CSE) EQUIPMENT FOR EASY AND INTUITIVE OPERATION.
All the advantages of our ergonomic Tuohy-tip epidural needle, and the safety of a 27G pencil-point spinal needle.

WHAT MAKES IT SO SIMPLE?
Once the epidural space has been located, the spinal needle is inserted until the tip of its hub is inserted in the epidural needle hub. This is a simple HUB TO HUB connection. In this position, the tip of the spinal needle protrudes 0.9 mm over the Tuohy tip, thus ensuring that if the epidural needle is correctly inserted into this space, the success rate of access to the subarachnoid space will be 100%.

Thus, all the spinal needle fixation systems present in most CSE equipment can be dispensed with, avoiding unnecessary manipulations and complications that can cause the technique to fail. The chance to reach the subarachnoid space is increased, and perhaps most importantly, this prevents the chance to introduce the spinal needle into the intrathecal space due to the excessive length of most needles in other CSE equipment.

THE SAME EQUIPMENT FOR ALL KIND OF PATIENTS
The 20G epidural needle combined with a 27G spinal needle offers great versatility and can be used from paediatric patients to elderly patients.

It can be used as a complement of the surgery or as a postoperative analgesic complement in a large number of procedures of several specialities.

The epidural has been a simple, effective, and, above all, very safe anaesthetic-analgesic technique since the incorporation of new local anaesthetics into the clinical practice.

It can be used in CAESAREANS, HYSTERECTOMIES (laparotomy and laparoscopy), GENERAL SURGERY (as a complement of analgesia), PLASTIC SURGERY (abdominoplasties, large liposuctions, among others) UROLOGY (nephrectomies, oncological surgery of bladder and prostate), VASCULAR SURGERY (aortofemoral bypass, aortic stent, among others) TRAUMATOLOGY (hip and knee arthroplasty, serious fractures of the hip, spine, and lower limbs), and NEUROSURGERY (spine surgery).

AKUS® needles for the anaesthesia of peripheral plexuses and nerves combine neurostimulation and echogenicity to maximise the results of the technique.

Patented needles with a new design that provide accuracy, safety and versatility, making it easier to perform the nerve-blocking technique.

ACCURACY
Fully ergonomic needle hub, specifically designed for nerve blocking with great accuracy, every time.

Its centimetre marking makes it easy to check the depth of needle insertion into the body tissues.

ECHOGENICITY
NEW die-cut marking system on the last centimetre of the tip; which makes the needles perfectly visible in ultrasound imaging. Greater accuracy and safety when administering local anaesthesia.

SAFETY
Locating the needle tip in relation to the nerve prevents unseen nerve damage both by puncture and intraneural administration of the anaesthetic. The ergonomic grip of the needle features a magnifying glass effect, which quickly detects the presence of blood inside the needle, warning that the needle is in or near a blood vessel.

PREPARE THE NEEDLE TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS: VERSATILITY TO THE FULLEST.

The AKUS® plexus-blocking needle has a detachable neurostimulation cable connection system, which makes it possible to connect the needle in any desired position. If the anaesthetist does not require stimulation, the power cord does not need to be connected.

The possibility of connecting the syringe directly to the needle enables to perform the anaesthetic technique without the need for another person, which is very useful in some circumstances. If assistance is needed, just connect the extender included with each needle.

Available in various sizes according to the needs and type of block: 50 mm, 70 mm, 90 mm, in gauges of 22G and 21G; and 140 mm in 21G.

THINKING AHEAD… NEW PRO RANGE OF PLEXUS NEEDLES
The new range of AKUS PRO nerve block needles is designed to perform ultrasound-guided plexus block procedures, carried out by experienced professionals that do not require neurostimulation in certain types of patients and blocks. Pro needles come with a double marking system along its entire length, which helps to distinguish the tip from the rest of the needle. The AKUS PRO block needle introduces a new concept to the field of blocks: BI-ECHOGENICITY.

THE SAME EQUIPMENT FOR ALL PROFESSIONALS
Work preferences vary for each professional, for each hospital, and even more so for each country or continent. Building equipment to the liking of all professionals would be impossible, due to the space costs, logistics, economic issues, and SAFETY. However, it is possible to design equipment to meet a set of needs agreed by most anaesthetists of a certain group of hospitals, and adapted to each of the main techniques:

SURGICAL FIELD PREPARATION. SPINAL ANAESTHESIA TECHNIQUE. EPIDURAL-CSE TECHNIQUE. NERVE BLOCK TECHNIQUE.
From its onset, our company has understood the importance of customisation, which is part of the developments being implemented worldwide in all health systems at the organisational level. This is aimed at improving logistics, a field where references on medical devices are increasingly found, and where distribution and storage has become a problem resulting in loss of time, money and efficacy. To this, we can add the safety a customised kit brings by avoiding errors and unnecessary handling.

EQUIPMENT CUSTOMISED TO THE NEEDS AND PREFERENCES OF PROFESSIONALS As time goes by, anaesthetic techniques change, and a good deal of the equipment on the market is not adapted to these needs. Customisation is the solution.

If the technique changes, so does the equipment, by removing or adding components.