Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Patent
1997-12-30
1999-05-11
Yasko, John D.
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
604 80, 604190, 604252, A61M5/00
Patent
active
059022817
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a drip chamber for an intravenous infusion set. The invention also relates to a method of making drip chambers, and further, to an intravenous infusion set including a drip chamber.
Intravenous infusion sets commonly include drip chambers to enable the flow rate of the infusion liquid to be visually observed. It is frequently desirable to filter the infusion liquid at the time it is adminstered to the patient. A hydrophilic filter may be used for this purpose, as described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,013,072 and 4,521,212, since such filters, when wetted with the liquid, pass liquid but block air.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel drip chamber of the type including a hydrophilic filter. Another object of the invention is to provide an intravenous infusion set including a drip chamber and a bypass arrangement to facilitate priming the infusion set. A further object is to provide a method of making a drip chamber having a filter.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drip chamber for an intravenous infusion set, comprising: a housing defining a chamber to be located in a vertical position and including an inlet at the top and an outlet at the bottom; a first hydrophilic filter covering the outlet effective, when wet, to permit the flow therethrough of a liquid and to block the flow therethrough of air; and a second hydrophilic filter covering the inlet also effective, when wet, to permit the flow therethrough of a liquid and to block the flow therethrough of air.
Such a drip chamber is particularly useful in an intravenous infusion set for home self-treatment, in order to make the set usable as easily as possible by the user. A drip chamber including hydrophilic filters at both its inlet and outlet enables the drip chamber to be pre-connected into an infusion set with the infusion bag, and to be pre-primed, so all the patient has to do is to connect the intravenous tube to the outlet end of the drip chamber and start the infusion.
Thus, during storage and handling of infusion sets including a drip chamber having a hydrophilic filter only at the outlet end, air in the drip chamber could escape into the infusion bag, and consequently the drip chamber could fill and become ineffective. However, by providing the drip chamber with a hydrophilic filter at both its inlet and outlet ends, the infusion set may be pre-primed before being stored, in which case the hydrophilic filters at the two ends of the drip chamber become wet and thereby prevent air from escaping either way, so that the drip chamber remains operational until used.
Such a construction, or one including a filter only at the outlet of the drip chamber, may also be used for fine filtration of the infusion liquid, e.g., for filtering out microorganisms. However, the flow rate through the filter would be quite low, and therefore it would generally be desirable to include an infusion pump to apply sufficient pressure for the desired flow rates. In order to permit priming of such an infusion set within a short time, the infusion set may be provided with a bypass for bypassing the drip chamber.
According to another aspect of the present invention, therefore, there is provided an intravenous infusion set comprising: a housing defining a chamber to be located in a vertical position and including an inlet at the top and an outlet at the bottom; a filter covering the outlet; bypass tubing connecting the inlet to the outlet and bypassing the chamber; and a valve in the bypass tubing, which valve is normally closed but is manually openable to bypass the chamber when priming the infusion set.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of making a drip chamber, comprising: producing a cylindrical wall open at least at one end to constitute the bottom of the drip chamber; producing a bottom wall member including a circular wall integrally formed with a cylindrical skirt circumscribing the circular wall and formed with an annular seat ar
REFERENCES:
patent: 3677242 (1972-07-01), Shaye
patent: 3722697 (1973-03-01), Burke et al.
patent: 4087363 (1978-05-01), Rosemeyer et al.
patent: 4116646 (1978-09-01), Edwards
patent: 5098407 (1992-03-01), Okamura
Ben-David Micha
Kraus Menahem
Raz Haim
Shemesh Eli
Gring N. Kent
Teva Medical Ltd.
Yasko John D.
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