Design and enhancement of radiofrequency cannula for chronic pain management

Abstract

Radiofrequency (RF) cannula is one of important component in the treatment of chronic pain known as Radiofrequency (RF) procedure. This procedure has become a common and alternative procedure for chronic pain management since it gives pain relief without causing damage to the nerve tissue. The main issue or problem in existing design related to placement of cannula to target nerves which are ability to firmly hold the cannula and adjustment of the cannula to the target nerve. Thus, through conceptual design development, new design of cannula hub may improve placement of cannula to target nerve and gripping ability. In conceptual design and development, product design specification is established from user's requirements and existing cannula. Six design concept sketching is generated according to product design specifications which were evaluated by user of RF cannula. In evaluating these design concepts, several criteria are defined to satisfied user most through details questionnaire. Final concept design is selected through concept screening and concept scoring phase. A design of prototype cannula hub is created using Catia V5 software with improvised features. This study proposes the fabrication prototype cannula hub using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machine. The prototype cannula hub attached with insulated needle was tested on chicken tissue to compare the performance of new prototype cannula hub with existing cannula during radiofrequency procedure. It is found that, the new prototype cannula hub more effective in term of gripping ability and placement to target tissue. Essentially, this study may benefit a lot in providing alternative design of cannula hub while promising a better performance of RF cannula.