Percutaneous needle guide and method

1. A percutaneous needle guide comprising;

a housing, wherein the housing includes a bottom wall;

an inclinometer secured to the housing for sensing a two dimensional inclination of the housing relative to the earth's gravitational field and for providing an indication thereof;

a slidable percutaneous needle mounting arrangement secured to the housing for slidably holding a percutaneous needle in a fixed axial orientation relative to the housing, wherein the slidable percutaneous needle mounting arrangement is configured to slidablv hold any of a plurality of different diameter percutaneous needles along a Z-axis that is perpendicular to the bottom wall of the housing; and

a needle measuring device mounted in the housing and operative with linear motion of the percutaneous needle so as to measure the position of the percutaneous needle relative to the housing and providing a measurement, the needle measuring device including a first wheel mounted on a wheel axis, the first wheel being positioned to contact the needle when the needle holder is slidably held against the needle, and the needle measuring device includes a measurement tape positioned laterally between the first wheel and the needle, the measurement tape being configured to wrap around at least a portion of a circumference of the first wheel;

wherein linear movement of the needle substantially parallel to the Z-axis causes the first wheel to rotate about the wheel axis and facilitate movement of the measurement tape proportional to linear movement of the needle.

2. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 1 , wherein the needle receiving passage is perpendicular to the bottom wall of the housing, and wherein a needle holder is slidably mounted in the passage, receives the needle positioned in the passage, and slidably holds the needle with a longitudinal axis of the needle being parallel with the Z-axis of the housing.

3. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 1 , including a measurement viewing window located in the housing to permit viewing of a position of the measuring tape from outside the housing, the position of the measuring tape with respect to the housing indicating a linear position of the needle relative to the housing.

4. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a top wall and the inclinometer includes a vessel mounted in the top wall of the housing, the vessel including a liquid.

5. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 4 , wherein the vessel includes a float, the float including a centrally positioned indicator portion that extends upward from the float such that placement of the top wall of the housing perpendicular to the earth's gravitational field causes centering of the indicator portion at the top of the vessel;

wherein the vessel includes at least one angle indication marking along an X-axis direction and at least one angle indication marking along a Y-axis direction, the angle indication markings configured to provide an indication of the angle of inclination of the housing relative to the earth's gravitational field responsive to a position of the indicator portion relative to the angle indicator markings.

6. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 4 , wherein the vessel is filled with a supermajority of liquid and with a superminority of gas which forms an indicator bubble, the indicator bubble being lighter than the remaining liquid in the vessel such that that placement of the top wall of the housing perpendicular to the earth's gravitational field causes centering of the indicator bubble at the top of the vessel.

7. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 4 , wherein the vessel is rotatably, about the Z-axis, mounted in the housing to permit angle indication markings of the vessel to be rotated to any desired angle relative to X and Y axes of the housing to provide options for zero position and angle reading for the inclinometer.

8. The percutaneous needle guide of claim 1 , wherein the needle measuring device includes a measurement wheel operatively contacting the needle and mounted for rotation about an axis, the measurement wheel being positioned to contact the needle when the needle holder is slidably held against the needle, the measurement wheel including at least one measurement indication and being mounted in a predetermined relationship to a measurement window in the housing;

wherein linear movement of the needle substantially parallel to the Z-axis causes the measurement wheel to rotate about the wheel axis proportional to linear movement of the needle and provide a measurement indication, viewable from outside the housing through the measurement window, of linear needle position along the Z-axis.