Adept Medical has announced the launch of the Head Immobiliser—a radiolucent support for a range of interventional radiology (IR) and neuroradiology procedures. Now commercially available, the positioning device can help mitigate the costs of retakes, from reducing the amount of mid-procedure interventions caused by head movement in awake patients, to enabling interventionists to consider conscious sedation as an option, as well as minimising patient exposure to radiation.
Stephen Florance, lead product design engineer from Adept, said the following of the Head Immobiliser: “Many interventional neurologists and radiologists have conveyed to us their frustration with holding the head still during conscious sedation neurointerventional imaging procedures. The solutions currently in place for head fixation during these procedures are inadequate, resulting in poor image quality, higher patient radiation exposure, and longer procedure times.
“We knew we had to create a product that can immobilise the head quickly, and more consistently than the current makeshift solutions. Radiolucency was also a must. A key hurdle we had to overcome was the ability to manufacture the hoods. Unable to rely on a supplier, we had to be creative and so we developed our own unique thermoforming process in-house. We are very happy with the final product.”
As per an Adept press release, the Head Immobiliser uses vacuum suction to lock the hood shape, and with it, the patient’s skull, reducing unwanted movement comfortably. This helps to align the 3D roadmap and angiography, ensuring interventions are performed under optimal conditions, providing benefits to patient management and procedural workflow.
With an aluminium equivalence of 2.23mm through the hood, the Head Immobiliser has been designed to have minimal interference with X-Ray imaging too. Compatible with most imaging tables, it is easy to set up, and takes up minimal space in the operating theatre, the release adds.
