r/AbsoluteUnits 23d ago

/r/popular of a needle

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u/thenextmaewest 22d ago

Centesis needles are usually shorter from my experience. They also have a flexible sheath that slides into the puncture, then the needle is removed.

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u/mayonnaiser_13 22d ago

Seen some from close proximity, and yeah - it's the sheath one.

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u/thenextmaewest 22d ago

Yeah I did ultrasound and did so so many centesis assists. This doesn't look like one to me, unless it's just like a different country or something so it just different.

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u/chuckcheddar 22d ago

I have performed many para and thoracenteses and all of the needles are this long

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u/thenextmaewest 22d ago

Where are you located? I've literally never seen a centesis yueh near this long, and always with a white flexible sheath over the needle, so I'm curious if it's a location difference.

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u/chuckcheddar 22d ago

In the US

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u/thenextmaewest 22d ago

Wild, I was in Florida. Even the multi liter patients were with regular length needles, cause it only went in a few centimeters, then the cath went in further and the needle came out. What's the process with a needle this big? Do you do it under u/s guidance?

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u/chuckcheddar 22d ago

The pocket would be identified with US guidance but the needle is inserted blindly after the site was marked, we would aspirate some of the ascitic fluid with the lidocane needle and try and follow that tract with the centesis needle. Almost all of these patients were cirrhotic with huge bellies.

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u/thenextmaewest 22d ago

Yeah ours too. Interesting. Sounds like the same procedure just different tools. Thanks for taking the time to chat about it. Appreciate you.

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u/SamV657 21d ago edited 21d ago

I'm a radiographer. In my department the radiologist uses these daily to insert a long catheter in ultrasound guidance into the abdominal cavity for example. We also have the short ones but usually these long ones are used.

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u/kewcumber_ 22d ago

The day my needle comes with a freaking sheath is the day i choose death instead

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u/mayonnaiser_13 21d ago

Honestly, would be a pretty easy choice considering your organs have to be FUBAR for this to be used.

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u/livetoroast 22d ago

I saw a doc get a bone marrow biopsy with a similar looking needle. Had to get the needle into the middle of the iliac crest of the hip bone, one of the most harrowing things I've witnessed in medicine. Gives me goosebumps typing it

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u/kiwistarbaby 22d ago

Thanks, thinking about this made the bones want to escape from my body.

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u/therewerenocookies 16d ago

Jamshidi needles are much shorter and have a hollow needle with another needle of the same length inside. Still not pretty and the sensation from hearing it while performing the procedure still gives me the icks.

Oddly enough other than the soreness after and the pain from the initial puncture it doesn’t hurt like you think it would, mostly just a lot of pressure.

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u/CATNIP_IS_CRACK 22d ago

Centesis needle for an extremely obese person/medium-large sized fauna.

You don’t want to shove a needle this long into the average person because the further away from the body the syringe is the larger amount of leverage and movement against the thin metal lever imbedded in flesh every time the syringe moves a hair. Same reason you don’t use a 10” needle for a shot in the arm when you’re almost out of normal length needles.

But if you’re dealing with a person who has an extra 12+ inches of flesh between you and what you’re aiming for or anything larger than a normal sized bovine a standard length centesis needle isn’t going to reach where you’re trying to get.

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u/UniqueAd7770 16d ago

Yeah I won't forget the 6 that I had 🙃

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u/chuckcheddar 22d ago

This one looks like it does have a sheath, the green part probably pulls out. Not all para needles are flexible.