Through the years, the application of light emitting diode (LED) in the field of medical healthcare is highly utilized, primarily due to its efficiency. Vein finders were developed as guiding device in locating the vein for cannulation. In general, approximately 90–95% of hospital patients receive their treatment through intravenous route (IV) of administration. Moreover, more than one billion venipunctures are being performed annually for medical laboratory testing. The said procedures were performed through cannulation. It is a technique in which a cannula is placed inside a vein to provide venous access for blood sampling, drug, fluids, and nutrition administration. In order to perform this procedure, the first step is to make the target vein visible, usually by using a tourniquet or by slightly tapping the site. However, not all of the veins are visible, because they lack the distinguishing color or venous distention of the skin surface, even after the application of a tourniquet.
There are three veins that can be seen in the antecubital fossa. Among the three veins at the center of the arm is the median cubital, which should be the first choice, followed by the veins in the lateral aspect (outer thumb side), which is the cephalic vein, and the last are the veins in the medial aspect (inner little finger side), the basilic vein. The median cubital vein is considered as the best site for venipuncture. It serves as a branching between the two other veins, described to be well anchored, and usually large and prominent. These were the veins that were observed during the prototype testing with emphasis on the median cubital vein.
Cannulation is considered to be challenging for many clinicians and other medical practitioners to successfully complete it on the first attempt, due to the following factors, which causes difficulty during the performance; such are dehydration, dark skin pigmentation, obesity, poor vein quality, aging, and young age, including the low skill of the personnel performing the procedure. This Peripheral Difficult Venous Access (PDVA) is common, and it occurs frequently in clinical settings due to poorly visualized subcutaneous veins causing unsuccessful and prolonged procedure that can lead to patient’s distress, trauma, subcutaneous hemorrhage from frequent attempts, pain, and even unavoidable extreme reactions from children, adults, or patients with mental illness. Moreover, failures in this procedure are considered to be the possible sources of variability in the medical laboratory test results. They are parts of the pre-analytical phase errors with the highest percentage of 46.00% up to 77.10%, when compared to the analytical and post-analytical phases.
A vein finder device is primarily composed of a high power NIR-LED, which is the light source, an infrared-sensitive camera, a sensor to capture and format the acquired image real time, and a filter for purification by blocking unwanted wavelengths.
The development of a low-cost vein finder utilizing the near infrared region (NIR) of the electromagnetic spectrum has become popular. It is to primarily address the concern with the cost of a commercial vein finder with an estimated value of about 4500 USD for portable type to ~27,000 USD for non-portable. Currently, a more convenient model for daily use with optional stand to free the hands of the person performing the cannulation procedure is available at a price range of 4000 USD to 7000 USD per unit.
More so, the objective of the study is to develop an efficient low-cost portable device that can be primarily used as an instructional tool in training students performing cannulation.
It is a non-skin contact vein finder prototype that establishes real-time clear venous images, especially with individuals having non-palpable or visible peripheral subcutaneous vein for fast venous access and success in the first attempt in cannulation. Additionally, to aid in eliminating pre-analytical phase errors in the medical laboratory associated with venipuncture that affects the integrity of laboratory test results.
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