By Joe Korson
There are two things I hate, dentists drills and needles! The day they invent the soundless and painless solution to fixing cavities will be a happy day for me. I know some of you will say that the solution to the dentist’s drill exists and is called the toothbrush. So let’s ignore that subject and talk about my second fear, the needle. If you are one of the few people who have never had the experience of getting pricked by a needle then you probably are not reading this article. The rest of have and more than likely universally hate and fear this hideous doctors tool.
Once again Israeli innovation comes to the rescue of my fearful self. One of the most common use of needles is in IV catheters. IV’s can be especially notorious with children as their veins are smaller. As children are not as hardened and most adults (except some of us menfolk) getting an IV can be particularly traumatic especially when the doctor or nurse keeps missing the vein. I know this truth is making you cringe. It seems Hebrew University students and Hadassah Medical Center clinicians have come to our rescue by creating a semi-automatic handheld device for fast and safe IV insertion.
The handheld device is called SAGIV and uses infrared sights and sensors to find veins. This is integrated with an automatic rapid insertion and withdrawal movement system that make for accurate and almost painless attachment of the IV to the patient. I hope they get the SAGIV to my local doctor as soon as possible. For my kids sake…….
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