MedaPhor receives funding to develop NeedleGuide

Innovative virtual reality aid for ultrasound-guided needling

MedaPhor is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant offer from Innovate UK to fund the development of NeedleGuide^TM, a new augmented reality imaging device for ultrasound-guided needling, aimed at improving patient safety as well reducing the time and cost of these difficult procedures.

Doctors using interventional needling in a variety of medical procedures including tissue biopsy, cannula insertion and administering regional anaesthesia in peripheral nerve block (PNB) could benefit from NeedleGuide.  For many of these procedures, including PNB, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that ultrasound guidance should always be used.

NeedleGuide, which is already in the early stages of development, brings together augmented reality and ultrasound technologies to provide clinicians with a real-time view of the ultrasound scan over the patient’s anatomy. Highlighting the target, and subsequent pathway the needle needs to follow to the target, NeedleGuide will then automatically track the needle tip to ensure that the operator is always aware of the needle’s position in relation to the key anatomical structures.  This minimises the potential for user error and offers the opportunity for considerable savings to the hospital.

Commenting, Nicholas Sleep, Chief Technology Officer of MedaPhor, said: “NeedleGuide has enormous potential to improve patient outcomes, as well as reduce the time and cost of these difficult procedures. We believe that this technology could reduce the cost of needling to all hospitals and have a significant impact globally as a new and world-leading digital health technology.”

The conditional grant offer, totalling £464,000, was awarded as part of Innovate UK’s Digital Health Technology Catalyst competition and will help fund a significant proportion of the development process. NeedleGuide will be available to customers in 2019.