New needle holder facilitates percutaneous fluoroscopy-guided sacroiliac puncture.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate the success of a new guidance device for sacroiliac joint puncture. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The device was first tested on a human anatomical model and thereafter on two groups of patients. In the first group (n=8), the traditional hand-guided method was used, and in the second group (n=10) the needle-holder device. The parameters evaluated in each group were "the number of attempts", defined as the number of skin punctures, and "fluoroscopy-injection time", defined as the time from the beginning of the fluoroscopy to the end of the correct insertion of the needle into the joint. RESULTS: Sacroiliac injection with the new device required significantly fewer attempts (2.1 +/- 2 versus 4.3 +/- 3) and shorter fluoroscopy injection times (8.9 +/- 3 min versus 15 +/- 5 min; P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The new guidance device makes sacroiliac joint injection easier and prevents unnecessary exposure to radiation during the procedure.