A capacitive array sensing based training system for ophthalmic anesthesia

To administer regional block (local anesthesia) prior to an eye surgery, the anesthetist must insert the needle at the correct position and angle to avoid unnecessary injury to the eye. A training module wherein an anesthetist can be trained to properly administer anesthesia would avoid the risks involved in real life training. Such a training system, where the position and angle of insertion of the needle used to administer anesthesia are determined employing a capacitive sensor array with suitable signal conditioning and sensing logic is described in this paper. Simulation studies and test results on a prototype built and tested demonstrated the practicality of the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme is designed such that the sensing system can be installed easily into a commercially available mannequin and the mannequin used for training, thus dispensing with the need for custom fabrication.