A NEW FINE-NEEDLE FOR EASIER, SINGLE HANDED, ULTRASOUND-GUIDED BIOPSIES, REQUIRING LESS ADVANCING FORCES INTO SOLID ORGANS

A fine punch needle with a new bevelled geometry for easy, single-hand ed, ultrasound-guided biopsies is presented. The needle requires a sig nificantly lower advancing force compared with the commonly used punch needles of the Menghini type. Since, therefore, our needle penetrates the organs to be investigated easier, it enables the puncture of easi ly movable (stomach, gut) and/or solid organs (kidney) with the yield of sufficiently long punch cylinders. The first 196 biopsies were well tolerated and histological diagnosis could be made in 94% of the case s.