US 12,458,320 B2
Contact sensor positioning system, cannula insertion system and method to position a contact sensor
Toon Olaf Overbeeke, Utrecht (NL); Brian Robert Joseph, 'S-Gravenhage (NL); Johannes Gerhard Daniël Karssen, Utrecht (NL); Arris Cornelis Jonker, Utrecht (NL); Guido van Schie, Utrecht (NL); and Mark de Greef, Utrecht (NL)
Assigned to Vitestro Holding B.V., Utrecht (NL)
Appl. No. 17/421,037
Filed by Vitestro Holding B.V., Utrecht (NL)
PCT Filed Jan. 7, 2020, PCT No. PCT/NL2020/050010
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 7, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/145822, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 16, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2022351 (NL), filed on Jan. 7, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0054201 A1, Feb. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 17/34 (2006.01); A61B 34/20 (2016.01)
CPC A61B 8/0891 (2013.01) [A61B 8/085 (2013.01); A61B 8/4218 (2013.01); A61B 8/4245 (2013.01); A61B 8/429 (2013.01); A61B 8/4281 (2013.01); A61B 8/54 (2013.01); A61B 2017/3413 (2013.01); A61B 2034/2063 (2016.02)] 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A cannula insertion system configured to insert a cannula into a human or animal body, comprising:
a contact sensor positioning system arranged to determine a suitable location for insertion of the cannula, wherein the contact sensor positioning system comprises:
a contact sensor having a contact surface to be placed at least partially on the human or animal body to enable measurement with said contact sensor, wherein the contact sensor is an imaging sensor;
a positioning device configured to support and position the contact sensor;
a control device arranged to control the positioning device to position the contact sensor in a desired position; and
a processing device,
wherein the contact sensor positioning system comprises one or more sensors to determine a position and/or contact force related parameter representative of a position and/or contact force of the contact sensor,
wherein the processing device is configured to process the position and/or contact force related parameter and provide a position control signal to the control device on the basis of the position and/or contact force related parameter,
wherein the processing device is configured to determine the position control signal by image processing of one or more images obtained by the imaging sensor, and
wherein the position control signal, when used by the control device to position the contact sensor, is configured to move the contact sensor in an automated scanning movement, wherein the automated scanning movement comprises movement of the contact sensor in a direction transverse to an insertion direction of the cannula until a blood vessel is identified in the one or more images obtained by the imaging sensor.
 
21. A method to automatically position a contact sensor in a system configured to insert a cannula into a human or animal body, the contact sensor having a contact surface to be placed at least partially on the human or animal body to enable measurement with said contact sensor, the method comprising the steps of:
measuring, using one or more sensors, a position and/or contact force related parameter representative of a position and/or contact force of the contact sensor, wherein the contact sensor is an imaging sensor,
processing, with a processing device, the position and/or contact force related parameter sensor and providing a position control signal to a control device on the basis of the position and/or contact force related parameter and the image processing of one or more images obtained by the imaging sensor, and
controlling, with the control device, a positioning device configured to support and position the contact sensor to position the contact sensor in a desired position,
wherein the position control signal, when used by the control device to position the contact sensor, is configured to move the contact sensor in an automated scanning movement, wherein the automated scanning movement comprises movement of the contact sensor in a direction transverse to an insertion direction of the cannula until a blood vessel is identified in the one or more images obtained by the imaging sensor.