A Point Well Made

The manufacturing of a perfect bone needle.

The need for trusted, high-quality bone needles is common. Finding a specialized needle that specifically matches your requirements can be a challenge because the procedural outcome, ease of use, and patient and clinician comfort is greatly impacted by the needle’s point geometry, cannula design and handle ergonomics.

Trusted, high-quality needles are required for interventional procedures such as kyphoplasty, vertebroplasty, bone access and bone marrow biopsy, as well as orthopaedic and spine surgeries. Although the need for such bone needles is common, finding a specialized needle that specifically matches your requirements can be a challenge. Partnering with an experienced supplier who can manufacturer the perfect bone needle is critical to the procedural outcome, ease of use, and patient and clinician comfort, all greatly impacted by the needle’s point geometry, cannula design and handle ergonomics.

1. Point Geometry is Critical
   Grinding the needle point geometry is a critical process in manufacturing a perfect needle. This is especially evident in bone access and bone marrow harvest needles where the point geometry directly affects insertion force and patient comfort, and can impact the overall success of the procedure.
   
   
   
2. Don’t Overlook the Handle Design
   The ergonomic handle design is another important feature of a bone needle, relied on to improve needle control and clinician comfort. Adding custom features to the handle design, such as a pad-printing or a specific handle color, can improve identification and enhance branding.
   
   
   
   Cannula design is another important feature with bone needles. Some design options to consider are:
   • shaping the tubing or wire to strengthen the hub bond
   • modifying the funnel entry for accepting a device into the tubing inner diameter
   • designing the cannula to capture and retain outstanding-quality bone marrow specimens
   • adding centimeter depth markings.
3. Must Have: Manufacturing Services and Experience
   A range of capabilities and experience are needed for the manufacture of the perfect needle. Some of these would include:
   • CNC Swiss Machining – for special features or customizations
   • Metal Forming – including swaging, bending and flaring
   • Electrochemical – for ‘burr-free’ cutting
   • Chemical Etching – to apply markings, such as centimeter depth marks
4. Packaging Wraps it Up
   Packaging is another important consideration for bone needle projects. Packaging options range from bulk non-sterile to custom single-pack sterile. Although sourcing your needle bulk non-sterile might seem to be the easiest and least-expensive solution, partnering with a supplier in order to provide a sterile, private-label-finished device can help reduce overall lead time and total cost of ownership.

Where Experience and Quality Matters
Argon Medical Custom Product Solutions is a proven quality supplier of needles for bone, biopsy and vascular access, and a respected leader in medical device manufacturing for over 50 years.

As a leading provider of bone access needles, they offer up the recipe for that perfect needle:

• experienced manufacturing services
• specific cannula designs
• a comprehensive range of ergonomically designed handles in a variety of shapes and colors
• experience in point geometries including:
  • the double-diamond point designed to easily penetrate hard bone
  • an industry leading ‘match-ground’ tip where the needle and stylet are uniquely matched one-to-one during grinding, for a perfect needle point
  • electrochemical grinding and notching for custom features specific to customer needs.

When Customizing is Not an Option
Some projects prioritize speed and time-to-market, when there simply isn’t enough time or budget to source a customized bone needle. For such situations, there are off-the-shelf options that are ideal. Argon Custom Product Solutions has a vast portfolio of ready-to-order needles specifically designed for bone access, bone biopsy and cement delivery, with leading edge design features built in for optimal ease-of-use and patient outcomes.

Finding a trusted, high-quality specialized needle for interventional procedures that specifically matches your requirements can be a challenge. At Argon Medical Custom Product Solutions, we get right to the point.