BACK

PROJECTS

A portable guided puncture echographer for improved patient care

Tekniker designs the electronics and casing elements for the device

The ultimate goal of this project jointly carried out by the technology centre and the firm Dispositivos Médicos Flecho is threefold: to optimise guided puncturing, minimise unnecessary pinpricks and improve the quality of health care for patients.

Portable echographers are devices that use high-frequency sound waves and allow innocuous diagnostic tests to be performed anywhere. One of their specific applications consists in guiding health care professionals when puncturing central venous pathways to minimise the number of pinpricks, shorten the duration of the procedure and improve the quality of care.

In order to optimise this process, Tekniker, member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) is currently collaborating with the firm Dispositivos Médicos Flecho to design and integrate the hardware, the outer casing and firmware required for a new portable echographer that assists health professionals when puncturing central venous pathways.

Tekniker’s capabilities in terms of electronics and designing precision equipment are fully in line with this company’s technological needs with regard to integrating point of care systems that were decisive as regards implementing this collaborative action.

This portable device will greatly enhance the quality of care for patients as it does not only reduce the number of punctures required, but also allows hospital care to be transferred to other health care ecosystems. Consequently, there will be improvements in terms of quality of life for patients.

The project will follow two tracks. On the one hand, a casing is to be designed to accommodate all the electronic components, the echographer-transducer as well as a charging base. It is during this phase when Tekniker will provide all the necessary advice to build prototypes prior to moving into the area of serial production and provide assistance in the search for potential suppliers.

And, on the other, hardware will be designed to include the development of a power source and connectivity elements to be integrated into a CPU and backed by an operating system that is compatible with the probe and ultrasound image viewing elements to properly manage the device´s electronic components such as the graphic screen, the power source and the temperature sensor, among other things.

It is during this phase of the project when development efforts will focus on firmware that can enable and integrate all the hardware elements to allow a functional prototype to be built as a basis for the end product. This collaborative action also includes support to integrate application software developed by the company Dispositivos Médicos Flecho.

As regards the outer casing, the technology centre will design, integrate, manufacture and assemble model casings for three prototypes to test and validate device functionality and ergonomy.

Thanks to the know how accumulated by Tekniker related to processes of this kind, the organisation will be able to provide all the documents required for product certification and identify the most suitable suppliers when purchasing components and facilitating the industrialisation process.

Thanks to this device, patients will enjoy much more normal lives, avoid unnecessary trips to hospitals and reduce the number of pinpricks in each diagnostic test.