Speeding Up Venous Access

A New Jersey startup has begun testing an automated medical device designed to identify good veins in adult and pediatric patients.

VascuLogic LLC currently is testing the VenousPro with the hopes of using it in 40 patients and eventually commercializing the product by 2016.

VenousPro is  designed to safely, consistently and accurately draw blood or connect an IV to a patient. The device utilizes 3-D infrared technology to locate a patient’s vein and a small robotically controlled needle to perform the cannulation in fully automated fashion. This process completely eliminates human error and ensures the vein can always be located, allowing for a vastly increased first-stick success rate and a total operation time of less than one minute, according to the Piscataway, N.J., firm.

In both in-vitro and in-vivo validation studies, including validation on human subjects, the VenousPro device demonstrated greater than 95 percent first-stick accuracy and outperformed human phlebotomist controls. 

Fifty-six percent of the adult population and 82 percent of the pediatric population suffer from trypanophobia, the fear of needles – just one of many issues faced by clinicians needing to draw blood. VascuLogic researchers conducted a survey of more than 200 U.S-based phlebotomists, identified difficult venous access as a significant problem in small children, particularly in terms of pain, time and patient and parent anxiety due to difficult/multiple needle stick(s). Additionally, they have validated that parent acceptance of the device is over 98 percent.

Arm restraints, real-time tracking during injection at every three milliseconds and sterile disposable sleeves to prevent contamination between patients are some of the safety features incorporated into the VenousPro design.

Though originally developed for pediatric patients, the device can be used on adults as well.

The company is leasing the device at close to cost, so the majority of revenue comes from three sources: an ultrasound gel pack, a sterile sleeve to avoid contamination between patients and a sterile clip to automate needle handling. Its target market includes hospitals and healthcare facilities with more than 200 beds, pediatric practices and large diagnostic service providers like Ques Diagnostics.

Several companies have developed imaging devices to help identify good veins such as AccuVein, Christie Medical’s VeinViewer, and Evena Medical, but the technology can take time to learn.

CEO Tim Maguire founded the company in 2010 after he noticed that in pediatric grand rounds something as simple as a blood draw was proving problematic, particularly with pediatric oncology patients. Not only are their veins small, but repeated jabs from IV medication can result in damaged veins. As he looked further, he found other potential applications among chronically ill and geriatric adult patient populations. The company is pursuing what Maguire estimates to be a $2 billion market opportunity.