Havels Blog

“Great Shape! Inc. is very grateful for the generous donation of surgical blades from Havel’s Inc. These blades were utilized by the 1000 Smiles dental project where volunteer dentists predominantly used them for surgery. They were helpful in thousands of extractions, fillings, cleanings, etc.
As they say in Jamaica, Big Up to Havel’s Inc.! We are humbled by their generous donation and this contribution will continue to serve many Jamaicans in great need of dental care.”
~Joseph Wright, Executive Director

The American Society of Regional Anesthesia’s November Fall Pain Meeting in Phoenix, AZ helped Havel’s cap off an incredible year with our patented Corner Cube Reflectors (CCR®) needles once again ending the year up 50% higher than the record breaking 2009. However, with the late meeting, and a busy December we are only now starting to see the results from the ASRA meeting.

The location was perfect for a break from the Midwestern cold, and the flexible schedule allowed for a walk through the mountains or a sit by the pool.  Many attendees and exhibitors alike could be seen taking advantage of all of the amenities at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort.

During the exhibit hours attendees made their way through the hall with many stopping to see Havel’s echogenic needles.  The EchoStim® Echogenic Insulated Needles with our patented CCR® marks were the most popular, but the new Micro Laser Etched (MLE™) needles were a hit with those doing pain injections under ultrasound guidance.  The new MLE™ needles are less expensive and offer a broader selection of sizes and bevel configurations for a number of different procedures.

Attendees also got a look at our needles in action during some of the cadaver workshops.  Havel’s donates hundreds of needles each year for use in courses across the country.  In our experience most people new to ultrasound feel much more confident when they can see our reflectors near the tip of the needle.

The well attended show and the interest in our echogenic needles provided us with a long list of samples to send out.  The busy month of December made follow-up and sample usage a challenge, but now we are starting to see those efforts turn into orders.  Thanks to the folks at ASRA for another great meeting, and we look forward to seeing everyone in Las Vegas in May.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists held its annual meeting last month in San Diego, CA.  As usual Havel’s® Inc. attended the show and came away with a long list of potential new customers interested in our many echogenic needles.

Originally we were concerned over the changes made to the show’s schedule, moving from a traditional Sunday start to the new Saturday start.  However, once the show began we were pleased with the amount of traffic and interest in our products.  The opening reception on the field at Petco Park was also well attended and really helped kick-off the show.

Havel’s EchoStim® Echogenic Insulated Needle for ultrasound guided regional anesthesia was still the most popular product, though the EchoBlock®, EchoBlock® PTC30, and the new EchoTuohy™ also brought in a lot of interested doctors and CRNAs.  Due to the success of these products over the last few years, Havel’s® echogenic needles have been chosen by instructors for use in the cadaver ultrasound workshops.  The low price of our echogenic needles also makes it easy for these new users to switch to our needle, without paying a higher price.

The feedback we received from the workshops was great, and the number of leads from our booth exceeded our expectations.  So we left San Diego feeling very good about the success of the show and the future growth of our echogenic needles.  With another great show behind us, we are all looking forward to next year’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Havel’s® Incorporated attended the recent AAPA (American Association of Pathologists Assistants) 2010 Continuing Education and Business Conference in Indianapolis, IN.  As a longtime sustaining member of the AAPA, we were excited to be attending the annual conference because it provides the opportunity for us to meet with some of our best extra thick autopsy blade customers. 

The meeting was well organized and heavily attended.  Those not familiar with Havel’s products were impressed by the extra thick #70, #60, and #22XT autopsy blades.  The extra thick blades hold a sharp edge longer than a standard autopsy blade and they are less likely to break in use.  Many attendees requested samples of Havel’s various autopsy blades, and hopefully some of them will turn into new customers for Havel’s.  The AAPA will move to San Francisco in 2011, so mark your calendars now and plan to attend next year.

Havel’s Inc. exhibited at the ASRA Ultrasound Pain Workshop at the Cleveland Clinic on September 11, 2010. Several of the doctors in attendance were brand new to ultrasound and were intrigued by what Havel’s Inc. had to offer.
We displayed all of the echogenic needles in our line including the EchoStim, EchoBlock, and EchoBlockMSK, along with the new EchoBlockPTC and EchoTuohy. There was a great deal of interest and many sample requests were taken. The doctors felt the echogenic needles would be beneficial, especially since they were new to ultrasound.
Havel’s Inc. echogenic needles will be displayed at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA in October. Stop by our booth #2416 to view the needles and request your samples.

Havel’s Incorporated, the Cincinnati-based market leader in echogenic needles, has announced the release of a new echogenic ultrasound needle which could help reduce radiation exposure. Last month, Havel’s Incorporated released four new echogenic needles using their new, innovative Micro Laser Etching (MLE™) technology, which creates multiple angled surfaces to reflect sound waves back to the transducer even at steep insertion angles.

The new needle, the Echogenic EchoTuohy™ Epidural Needle, will be used for ultrasound guided peripheral nerve blocks, epidural catheter placement, and epidural steroid injections. As ultrasound image quality continues to improve, many practitioners are looking for ways to avoid radiation exposure for themselves and their patients. Those switching to ultrasound guidance for epidural steroid injections will be happy to see the reflection from Havel’s MLE™ echogenic feature as they guide their injection to its target. The portability of ultrasound units, the expense of big fluoroscopy equipment, and the growth of pain management are all reasons why people are turning to ultrasound guided procedures and to Havel’s new echogenic needles.

Havel’s does something similar with their EchoStim® and EchoBlock® products using their patented Corner Cube Reflectors, or CCR® marks, which indent the needle slightly making it impossible to pass wires or catheters through the cannula. Now with the MLE™ technology users are free to pass wires or catheters through the cannula without obstruction. John Barrett, the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Havel’s Inc. said, “Once we had the technology to make needles echogenic without affecting the inner diameter, I knew a Tuohy Epidural Needle was our next logical addition to the line.”

Dr. Thomas Stossel, Senior Physician, Hematology Division and American Cancer Society Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School, started Options for Children, a non-profit organization that provides dental prevention and other medical services to children in Mochila, a remote village in Zambia.

Twice a year, volunteers from the organization travel to Mochila to provide services.  Dr. Stossel is also collaborating with doctors from the Hematology Department of University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia to develop a program to tackle the highly-prevalent sickle cell disease.  More information on the program can be found here.

Both the village and the hospital are deprived of useful medical equipment.  Havel’s is pleased to donate necessary bone marrow needles to Options for Children for use in the program.

For more information on Options for Children, visit http://optionsforchildren.org.

Havel’s Inc. recently exhibited at the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Annual Meeting at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle Washington. The CRNA’s in attendance were very interested in Havel’s Echogenic EchoStim® Insulated and EchoBlock® Non-Insulated needles for ultrasound guided peripheral nerve blocks.

Some in the industry are surprised to hear that CRNA’s are using ultrasound for peripheral nerve blocks, but not Havel’s. We have been marketing our echogenic needles to AANA members since the products release in 2007. Now as ultrasound continues to spread throughout the hospital, CRNA students seem to know as much or more about ultrasound as the experienced veterans.

For now, both groups are focused on improving their skills and technique as they are well aware ultrasound is here to stay. Havel’s is also here to stay, releasing even more echogenic products in the coming months. Be on the lookout for the new EchoTuohy™ in September and the new EchoAccess® and EchoCath™ coming in 2011.

You can see Havel’s echogenic needles for yourself in Booth #2416 at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA this October. Hope to see you there.

According to an article from HealthDay News, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists do not need to be supervised during procedures.  A recent study showed that patients were not at greater risk for complications or death from anesthesia when CRNAs performed the work unsupervised by a anesthesiologist or surgeon. 

Read more here:  Certified Nurse Anesthetists Can Safely Go Solo, Study Suggests

AS REPORTED IN OUTPATIENT SURGERY:

Study Shows Benefits of Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Blocks

Physicians at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, assessed the abilities of 8 anesthesia residents and fellows and 12 staff anesthesiologists to recognize the spread of a simulated local injection around raisin targets embedded in a semi-opaque gelatin model.

The study’s participants were instructed to place a 22-gauge nerve block needle next to the model’s target structures using ultrasound guidance. After placement, the participants notified a research assistant, who either injected 1mL of water or made no injection at all. The participants were then asked to confirm or deny that the injection took place.

The study, published in the July issue of the journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, showed that residents and fellows correctly identified the injection’s spread – or lack of spread – 91% of the time, while staff anesthesiologists demonstrated a 93% accuracy rate.

Colin McCartney, MD, a Sunnybrook anesthesiologist and the study’s lead investigator, says that ultrasound is an easy way for anesthesia providers to determine that local anesthetic spread occurs in the correct place.

“This is tremendously important as failure to ensure the correct spread can lead to intravenous injection of local anesthetic with convulsions and cardiac arrest in patients,” he says. Other advantages of using ultrasound guidance during regional anesthesia include reducing PONV and faster post-op discharges.