Vibration tissue cutting for blunt hollow needles

This research investigates vibrational tissue cutting for blunt hollow needles. Accidental needlestick injuries account for millions of dollars of health care costs each year. Blunting the tip of a needle, imposing a rake and inclination angle of 0° at the tip, can significantly reduce the likelihood of accidental needlestick injuries. However, a blunt needle tip is not functional at cutting during regular insertion, but with the application of vibration, a blunt needle can become an effective cutting tool. The geometry of a blunt hollow needle is mathematically defined and tissue cutting experiments are conducted by vibrating blunt needles at varying frequencies through porcine skin. Experiments showed that vibrational cutting can decrease the insertion force while an increase in blunt tip area increases the force.