US Patent 11950803 Needle assembly with reverberation features to facilitate ultrasound guidance

A needle assembly positionable under visual guidance from an ultrasound system. An elongate body extends distally from a hub along a longitudinal axis and defines a lumen. Reverberation features reverberate incident waves to produce reflected waves to be received by the ultrasound system. The reverberation features may be disposed within the lumen and axially spaced apart from one another along the longitudinal axis. The reverberation features may include opposing portions of an inner surface of a sidewall that define a gap that is smaller or shaped differently than an inner diameter of the lumen. The elongate body may include a solid section near a beveled tip, and the reverberation features are bores defined within the solid section and axially spaced apart from one another. The elongate body may be removably disposed within a sheath in which a distal end of the sheath is axially positioned proximal to the reverberation features.