Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-16
2001-05-08
Kennedy, Sharon (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06228056
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the art of regulators, and more particularly in the art of intermittent regulators, it is known to provide suction regulation for physicians and other medical personnel, to provide such clinicians the advantage of intermitting suction capability, in one generally compact unit. Such intermittent regulators supply vacuum and atmospheric pressure alternately.
Typically, in evacuating fluids from the body, such as but not limited to, evacuating fluid from the stomach area, it is possible for the suction catheter to engage the stomach wall, thereby occluding the inlet of the suction catheter. In such event, it is desirable to have the vacuum draw of fluid from the stomach become discontinuous, to free the catheter from sucking against the stomach wall and damaging the stomach lining.
It is also common for debris in the stomach area to occlude the inlet ports of a catheter and thereby restrict or impede fluid flow. Periodic and regular relief of suction pressure to atmosphere will discourage debris accumulation on catheter inlets.
Because it is not always readily apparent when such occlusion occurs, suction regulators can be operated on a substantially ongoing or intermittent manner by periodic regular cycling of vacuum on and venting to atmosphere of the collection circuit.
In other instances, intermittent regulators are provided that may be set to operate in either a continuously intermittent (on/off, on/off, on/off, etc.) mode, or may be capable of being set to optionally operate in a constant-on or in a constant-off mode.
It is also known that because of the nature of fluids being withdrawn from the body of a patient, it is necessary to provide regulators that are capable of being sterilized between uses.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention is directed to providing an intermittent regulator that is magnetically operable.
The present invention is also directed to providing an intermittent regulator that has a control means for controlling the intermitting time cycle, but wherein the control means is isolated from body fluids that are delivered to the regulator from the body of a patient.
It is another object of this invention to provide an intermittent regulator in which solid particles entrained in the fluid being withdrawn from a body can be severed to encourage passage through the regulator to avoid jamming the operation of the regulator.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a regulator with a visual indication of the operating mode thereof.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an intermittent regulator with one or more stops for indicating the position or mode of operation of components of the regulator, as well as to provide for overriding the operation of the regulator via manual action by an operator.
It is another object of the invention to provide a near constant ratio of on/off operation of the regulator, even with variation in supply of vacuum to the regulator. It is also an object of this invention to provide for independent adjustment of the on/off times.
Other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from a reading of the following brief descriptions of the drawing figures, the detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments, and the appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4662829 (1987-05-01), Nehring
patent: 5265639 (1993-11-01), Tobia et al.
Boehringer John R.
Hegedus Michael I.
Karpowicz John
Turchi Anthony
Boehringer Laboratories, Inc.
Kennedy Sharon
Lam Ann Y.
Paul & Paul
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