Skin incision instrument and method for incising skin with the same

• US 8,097,013 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Oki, Akio, Oka, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Hlndenburg, Max
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stout, Michael C
• Application Number:
  US12/827,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268259A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 600/573, 600/578, 600/579, 600/583, 600/584, 606181-183
• US Class Current: 606/181
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150022 for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150068 by tissue compression, e.g. with specially designed surface of device contacting the skin area to be pierced
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150335 by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150389 Hollow piercing elements, e.g. canulas, needles, for piercing the skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150427 Specific tip design, e.g. for improved penetration characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150442 Blade-like piercing elements, e.g. blades, cutters, knives, for cutting the skin
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150503 Single-ended needles hollow piercing element tip design A61B5/150396, needle sets for catheters A61M25/06, needles for bringing media into the body A61M5/32
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150541 Breakable protectors, e.g. caps, shields or sleeves, i.e. protectors separated destructively, e.g. by breaking a connecting area
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150618 Integrally moulded protectors, e.g. protectors simultaneously moulded together with a further component, e.g. a hub, of the piercing element
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/150717 manually removed
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15113 Manually triggered, i.e. the triggering requires a deliberate action by the user such as pressing a drive button
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15117 comprising biased elements, resilient elements or a spring, e.g. a helical spring, leaf spring, or elastic strap
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/15186 Devices loaded with a single lancet, i.e. a single lancet with or without a casing is loaded into a reusable drive device and then discarded after use; drive devices reloadable for multiple use
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1519 comprising driving means, e.g. a spring, for propelling the piercing unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/157 Devices characterised by integrated means for measuring characteristics of blood
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance

Abstract

Provided are skin incision instrument to efficiently incise minimal portions and a method for incising skin with the skin incision instrument. The skin incision instrument according to the present invention comprises a holder, a needle, a needle drive unit, two or more skin expander sets, and a reader, wherein the skin expander sets comprise a first skin expander and a second skin expander; the first skin expander and the second skin expander are capable of expanding skin at both sides of the linear incision portion away from the linear incision portion and expanding the linear incision portion in a direction to expand the linear incision portion; and, minimal portions are efficiently incised by selecting a single skin expander set from two or more of the skin expander set based on the direction of the linear incision portion, such that an angle is adjusted to 45 degrees or more and 90 degrees or less wherein the angle is formed by the direction of the linear incision portion read by the reader and the direction to expand the skin by the single skin expander set.

Claims

1. A method for incising skin with a skin incision instrument the method comprising steps of:

incising, utilizing a driving unit of the skin incision instrument and a needle of the skin incision instrument, to form a incision portion in the skin;

reading, utilizing a reader of the skin incision instrument, a direction of the incision portion;

selecting m skin expander set(s) from n skin expander sets, based on the direction of the incision portion read by the reader, the m skin expander set(s) configured to form an angle between 45° and

90, wherein the angle is formed by the direction of the incision portion in the reading step and the direction to expand the skin by the m skin expander set(s); and

expanding, utilizing the m expander set(s), to expand the skin at both sides of the incision portion away from the incision portion;

wherein the selecting step is performed by a calculating unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, m is a natural number of one or more and n is a natural number of two or more, and n is greater than m.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein m is one.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the m skin expander set(s) comprise a first skin expander and a second skin expander.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, the first skin expander and the second skin expander are positioned symmetrically around an axis defined by the needle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the needle is mounted on end of a holder of the skin incision instrument.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the incision portion is linear.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the incising step, the reading step, the selecting step, and the expanding step are performed in this order.