Fail-safe needle guide mount for ultrasonic probes

Abstract

A needle guide mount has a main guide body, with a knob arm and a pivot arm each attached at one end to the main guide body. A gate assembly is pivotably in the pivot arm and has an open position, in which the gate assembly can pivot freely away from the knob arm, and a closed position, in which the gate assembly is secured in the knob arm. The gate assembly preferably has a shaft, a knob that can move longitudinally and rotatably on the shaft, and a locking arrangement that permits the gate assembly to enter the closed position only when the central axis of the gate assembly lies less than a predetermined maximum misalignment angle away from a correct mounting alignment axis. If the guide mount is not properly positioned on the probe, then the gate assembly is out of correct alignment and the locking arrangement is unable to engage. The operator can then easily feel that she is not able to mount the guide. The gate assembly preferably also has a contact member that contacts an outer surface of the probe and urges the gate assembly out of alignment when the needle guide mount is in an incorrect orientation relative to the probe. A protrusion and an indentation are also preferably provided on the guide mount and probe. If the needle guide mount is incorrectly positioned, then the protrusion urges the gate assembly out of alignment with the alignment axis.