Top 10 of 2010

“Launched in May 2009, the AccuVein AV300 is the world’s first handheld, non-contact vein illumination device that helps healthcare professionals to locate hard-to-find veins. Although vein illumination has been around for some time, early devices were essentially bright flashlights. While later technologies used infrared imaging to project the vein pattern onto the skin, they were too large and expensive for extensive deployment.

The AV300, however, was developed with the weaknesses of previous devices in mind, meaning the company had to rethink the basic approach to vein location, which involved extensive human factor studies and a focus on the visual appearance and user interface.

Venipuncture is the most common invasive medical procedure – with 2.7 million performed every day in the U.S. alone – so there is little doubt that the AV300 has a bright future. Already deployed in more than 300 hospitals in the U.S. and available in more than 50 countries around the world, the company believes it has only scratched the surface of the technology’s potential. Early adopters have already written vein illumination into their standard of care, and Accuvein is working with its users to help them do the same.”