System and device for positioning medical needles

Abstract

A system for inserting needles into a body, comprising: a guide plate comprising a plurality of apertures, each aperture being configured to receive a needle to be inserted into a body, wherein at least some apertures of said plurality of apertures have a respective detector associated thereto, each detector comprising a resonant circuit for detecting the presence of a needle inserted into a respective aperture, said resonant circuit being configured to modify its resonant frequency when the needle is inserted into the aperture; a probe for measuring, together with the detector comprised in an aperture, the penetration depth of a needle inserted into said aperture, each detector being configured to track changes in its resonant frequency produced when said probe is inserted along the needle in turn inserted into the aperture; and control electronics for interrogating each detector and for determining the presence or absence of a needle in a corresponding aperture and for determining the penetration depth of a detected needle from said tracked changes in the resonant frequency of a corresponding detector.