No abstract

Surgical needles are commonly used by medical specialists to reach target locations inside of the body for disease diagnosis or other medical interventions, such as biopsy, brachytherapy, thermal ablation, and drug delivery. Insertion of the needle in human body parts with a larger needle often results in severe tissue damage. Tissue damage could potentially be reduced by decreasing the insertion force caused mainly by the friction on the interface of needle and tissues. Here we propose the use of polydopamine (PDA) coating to reduce the friction force. In addition to its excellent biocompatibility, polydopamine has desirable adhesion, lubrication, biodegradability and, thermal stability properties. Our preliminary results on some needle prototypes show that by coating the needle with polydopamine, the insertion force can be reduced by 20–25%.

No abstract

This study is aimed to evaluate the effects of coated surgical needles with composite polymers such as polydopamine (PDA), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and carbon. The coated needle’s lubrication properties were measured using 3 DOF force sensors and 3D robot system by the repetitive insertion in soft tissue materials. Needle durability is a measure of needle sharpness after repeated passage through high stiffness tissue materials. The composite coatings were shown to reduce the insertion force by ∼49% and retraction forces by ∼46% when tested using a bovine kidney. The surface roughness and the lateral friction force of the needle are measured using the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The adhesion energy of the different coating on the needle will be measured using a nano-scratch method.