Enhanced Pneumodart Needle

**This Product Cannot Be Shipped Internationally

NSN# 6515-01-655-9514

We are pleased to announce the availability of the new H&H Enhanced Pneumothdart Needle (EPN). The EPN is designed with a hollow, closed-end stylet, spring loaded safety tip housing a 14 gauge interior diameter catheter that is 8.6 cm in length. The needle housing has a color indicator showing when the safety tip retracts, the EPN is designed to stay in place. The cap is also a luer connector to allow for the rapid removal of air using a manual suction device (e.g. syringe) or the clearing of fluids from the needle (not recommended for use with a hemothorax).

The Enhanced Pneumodart Needle was designed to overcome the shortfalls of the flexible catheter. The catheter was never designed for this purpose and as an IV catheter it is designed to become soft and pliable in the body. This fact makes it only a very temporary solution for a tension pneumothorax, one which will fail shortly after insertion (as we have seen many times on the battle field) requiring multiple needles with an increase in misplacement and damage to the tissues.

Placement verification of the flexible catheter in the chest could not truly be delineated as there is no indicator other than the potential audible rush of air. On the ground, in the air, or in combat this is very difficult to appreciate. Even when one is successful, there is no indicator to show placement and to ensure proper depth to maintain for continuous venting of the pneumothorax.

H&H designed this product based on similar attributes of a Veress needle used in the operating room for laparoscopic procedures. If you inspect a Veress needle, you will see the inner cannula retracts to expose the needle. The needle inserts through the tissue and deploys the blunt tip cannula once the needle is through. The needle has a blue plastic indicator that moves up and down with the cannula.

Once this needle penetrates, the cannula will deploy and the blue indicator will click in the down position, this shows that the needle is in the pleural cavity. Now the needle can be secured in place at the proper depth for transport. The needle will not collapse as is the case in the flexible catheter and there is no need to remove the needle until the patient is received in a higher level of care and definitive treatment is delivered.

Key features of the EPN

• Improved success in resolving tPTX and PEA (Pulseless Electrical Activity)
• Rigid needle remains in place
• No risk of cannula collapse or kinking
• Positive indicator of correct placement in pleural space
• Etched markings for depth control
• Reduced sharps hazard
• Shelf Life: 7 years
• NSN 6515-01-655-9514

Dimensions: 6" H x 0.8" D
Weight: 0.5 oz