|
Medical Patent Abstract
A mixing/charging port for medical treatment capable of reliably
absorbing air bubbles. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment
includes a disc-like valve having an insertion hole at the center,
a seating for supporting the lower part of the periphery of the
valve with the center of the rear surface side of the valve not
supported, and a cover for restraining the valve by covering at
least the upper part of the periphery of the valve with the center
on the front side surface of the valve left uncovered, wherein a
fitting hole defined by an inner periphery of the cover works as
an anchor for anchoring an insertion body to the mixing/charging
port by fitting the insertion body to the fitting hole when the
insertion body is inserted into the insertion hole; and the tip
of the depressed part of the valve is brought into contact against
the inner bottom surface of the seating when the valve is depressed
by the insertion member.
Medical Patent Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A mixing/charging port for medical treatment comprising: a disk-like
valve having a slit that forms an insertion hole at the center,
a seating for supporting a rear surface of the periphery of the
valve with the center of the rear surface of the valve left unsupported,
the seating having a concave covered by the valve and a passage
laterally passing through the concave, and a cover for restraining
the valve by covering a front surface of the periphery of the valve
with the center of the front surface of the valve left uncovered,
wherein: an inner periphery forming a fitting hole of the cover
works as an anchor for anchoring an insertion member to the mixing/charging
port in a way in which the insertion member is fitted to the fitting
hole when the insertion member is inserted into the slit, wherein
when the insertion member is inserted into the slit so as to split
edges formed by the slit of the valve, a part along the edges is
depressed by the insertion member, and a tip of the depressed part
of the valve is brought into contact against an inner bottom surface
of the concave of the seating.
2. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment according to
claim 1, wherein the inner side surface of the seating is formed
so as to have the same shape as the shape of the valve in a state
in which the valve is depressed by the insertion of the insertion
member.
3. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment according to
claim 2, wherein a groove is provided in the direction of the flow
through the inner part of the mixing/charging port so that the bottom
surface of the passage is located in level to the bottom surface
of the seating.
4. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment according to
claim 3, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the groove corresponds
to the shape surrounded by the arc and chord at one of the opening
part of the passage.
5. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment according to
claim 1, wherein a groove is provided in the direction of the flow
through the inner part of the mixing/charging port so that the bottom
surface of the passage is located in a lower level to the bottom
surface of the seating.
6. The mixing/charging port for medical treatment according to
claim 5, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the groove corresponds
to the shape surrounded by the arc and chord at one of the opening
part of the passage.
Medical Patent Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mixing/charging port for medical
treatment, which is placed on a medical instrument to make it easy
and reliable to mix/charge solutions from the outside of a feeding
passage or, on the other hand, to collect solutions from the inside
of the feeding passage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In infusing a drug solution or transfusing blood into a patient,
it is often necessary to provide a main feeding passage with a side-infusing
line in order to mix/charge different kinds of drug solutions or
to collect the liquid flowing in the feeding passage as a sample.
Conventionally, in this case, a feeding passage of an infusion set
provided with a rubber mixing/charging port (cock) for piercing
by needles is used and solutions are mixed/charged by piercing the
mixing/charging port with an injection needle, etc.
However, in such a method, when piercing the site other than the
predetermined piercing site of the mixing/charging port with the
needle, the liquid may leak from the site. Another problem is that
the injection needle may be contaminated due to a working error,
etc. In order to fix and hold a luer, etc. to be inserted ("an
insertion member" will be referred to hereinafter), recently,
the mixing/charging port capable of holding an insertion member
has been considered. An example includes a mixing/charging port
equipped with a valve that opens when a male luer located at the
tip of a syringe is inserted into the mixing/charging port to push
the valve and which closes by itself when the luer is pulled out
from the mixing/charging port.
However, in such a mixing/charging port, it is necessary to hold
a luer at the mixing/charging port regardless of the state in which
the valve is inserted (i.e., valve opens) or the state in which
the valve is pulled out (i.e., valve closes). Therefore, there are
the following various problems. More specifically, first, it is
necessary to deepen a luer receiving part of the mixing/charging
port. With such a shape, it is difficult to remove the liquid leaking
from the valve, which easily may become unsanitary. Furthermore,
in the mixing/charging port having such a deep luer receiving part,
the liquid may begin to be mixed/charged in a state in which the
luer is not sufficiently inserted into the valve. In this case,
if the amount of drug solution to be mixed/charged is small, the
administration of an effective amount of drug solution may not be
carried out. Secondly, the structure of the valve becomes complicated,
which may lead to increasing cost. Furthermore, as the structure
of the valve is more complicated, failures are more likely to occur,
and the valve is more likely to be broken.
On the other hand, in the conventional simple-structured mixing/charging
port (for example, a mixing/charging port merely equipped with a
disk-like valve made of an elastic member having a slit), it was
difficult to insert a luer of a syringe into the mixing/charging
port. If possible, it was difficult to hold the syringe reliably
at the mixing/charging port. This is because the conventional disk-like
valve is formed of a material having a large elasticity and has
a simple structure in which the thick main body is merely provided
with a slit, so that the valve exhibits a large resistance when
the luer is inserted into the valve, and the valve is deformed largely
when the valve holds the luer. However, if the thickness of the
elastic member is reduced or a material having a small elasticity
is used in order to reduce the resistance when the luer is inserted,
the backflow prevention effect of the valve is lowered, which may
cause liquid leaking.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there has been
a proposal of a mixing/charging port for medical treatment having
a simple structure and capable of reliably holding an insertion
member, which includes a disk-like valve having an insertion hole
at the center, a seating for supporting the lower part of the periphery
of the valve with the center of the rear surface side of the valve
left unsupported, a cover for restraining the valve by covering
at least the upper part of the periphery of the valve with the center
on the front surface side of the valve left uncovered, and an anchor
means for anchoring the insertion member to the mixing/charging
port by inserting the insertion member into the insertion hole and
by using the edge portion of the cover provided with a fitting hole.
FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C are projection drawings from three directions
of an example of a conventional mixing/charging port for medical
treatment. That is, FIG. 1A is a longitudinal sectional view of
a mixing/charging port; FIG. 1B is a cross sectional view of the
mixing/charging port along line I-I in FIG. 1A; and FIG. 1C is a
plan view of the mixing/charging port, respectively.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a disk-like valve, 2 denotes
a cover, and 3 denotes an insertion hole. Furthermore, reference
numeral 4 denotes an insertion member, 5 denotes an annular rib,
6 denotes a fitting hole, 7 denotes a seating, 8 denotes a passage,
and 9 denotes a hook. In this structure, the valve 1 is sandwiched
between the hook 9 of the cover 2 and the annular rib 5.
However, in the above-mentioned mixing/charging port for medical
treatment, there has been a problem in that when absorbing air bubbles
generated inside the mixing/charging port from the insertion hole
3, air bubbles that enter between the depressed part of the valve
1 and the inner part of the mixing/charging port cannot be absorbed
efficiently. Consequently, because of the presence of air bubbles
that have not been able to be absorbed, there remains a possibility
that an air bubble may be a contaminant when transfusing blood or
infusing a liquid medicine into a patient, which may lead to a problem
in that medical treatment cannot be carried out safely.
For example, when an insertion member 4 is inserted into a conventional
mixing/charging port for medical treatment, the valve 1 is depressed
and the insertion member 4 is held by the elastic force of the depressed
part of the valve 1 and the fitting hole 6 as shown in the sectional
view of FIG. 2. However, between the tip portion of the depressed
part of the valve 1 and the seating 7, a certain region A is created.
If air bubbles enter this region A, the air bubbles cannot be absorbed
from an absorption port of the insertion member 4.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention
to provide a mixing/charging port for medical treatment capable
of reliably absorbing air bubbles that have been generated in or
contaminate mixing/charging port.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a mixing/charging
port for medical treatment of the present invention includes a disk-like
valve having an insertion hole at the center, a seating for supporting
the lower part of the periphery of the valve with the center of
the rear surface side of the valve left unsupported, and a cover
for restraining the valve by covering at least the upper part of
the periphery of the valve with the center of the front surface
side of the valve left uncovered, wherein a fitting hole defined
by an inner edge portion of the cover works as an anchor for anchoring
an insertion member to the mixing/charging port in a way in which
the insertion member is fitted to the fitting hole when the insertion
member is inserted into the insertion hole; and the tip of the depressed
part of the valve is brought into contact against the inner bottom
surface of the seating when the valve is depressed with the insertion
member.
According to such a configuration, air bubbles generated inside
the mixing/charging port can be absorbed to the outside reliably
by inserting the insertion member. Consequently, it is possible
to reduce the risk of air bubbles being infused into the patient
when transfusing blood or infusing a drug solution is carried out.
Therefore, a medical treatment can be carried out safely.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional mixing/charging
port; FIG. 1B is a cross sectional view of the mixing/charging port
along line I-I in FIG. 1A; and FIG. 1C is a conventional plan view
of the mixing/charging port.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional mixing/charging
port for medical treatment.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a mixing/charging port
for medical treatment of an embodiment according to the present
invention.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a mixing/charging port
for medical treatment of an embodiment according to the present
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Hereinafter, the mixing/charging port for medical treatment of
the present invention will be described by way of embodiments with
reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional
view showing a mixing/charging port for medical treatment of an
embodiment according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, reference
numeral 4 denotes an insertion member, 5 denotes an annular rib,
7 denotes a seating, 8 denotes a passage and 9 denotes a hook. The
mixing/charging port for medical treatment of FIG. 3 is the same
as in FIG. 1 in that the valve 1 is sandwiched between the hook
9 of the cover 2 and the annular rib 5.
The mixing/charging port for medical treatment of FIG. 3 is different
from that of FIG. 1 in that the inner side surface of the seating
7 is formed to have the same shape as a state in which the depressed
part of the valve 1 is depressed with the insertion member 4 inserted
therein. In other words, in the conventional mixing/charging port,
since there is a certain space between the inner bottom surface
of the seating 7 and the tip of the depressed part of the valve
1, an air bubble, which has been generated spontaneously or is a
contaminant due to the working error, gets into the space, thus
making it difficult to absorb air bubbles from the insertion member
4.
In FIG. 3, the inner side surface of the seating 7 has a concave
shape that matches to the shape in a state in which the valve 1
is depressed by the insertion member 4. Therefore, the depressed
part of the valve 1 enters the concave part entirely, and thus a
space for air bubbles to be able to enter is not present. Therefore,
it is possible to prevent the retention of air bubbles from occurring.
Furthermore, in order to facilitate the matching of the inner side
face of the seating 7 to the shape of the depressed part of the
valve 1, it is preferable that the deformation allowance of the
material forming the valve 1 is sufficiently large. Thus, it is
possible completely to avoid generating the regions in which air
bubbles can be retained, and to carry out medical treatment more
safely.
Furthermore, in order not to generate the region A in FIG. 2, it
is sufficient that the inner bottom surface of the seating 7 is
brought into contact against the depressed part of the valve 1.
Thus, it is possible to avoid generating the region A in which air
bubbles are retained, thus making it possible to prevent air bubbles
from generating.
However, in the case where there are air bubbles that have entered
and remained, the above-mentioned configuration may obstruct the
insertion of the insertion member. The inner bottom surface of the
seating 7 may be provided with a groove for removing air bubbles
and securing the passage. It is preferable that the groove is provided
in the flowing direction of the mixing/charging port and the bottom
part of the passage 8 (including the groove) is located at a lower
level relative to the bottom surface of the seating 7. From the
viewpoint of the manufacturing cost, it is preferable that the shape
of the cross section of the passage 8 corresponds to a shape defined
by a chord and a bottom part of the cross section of the arc at
the bottom part of the cross section of the opening of the passage
8.
With such a configuration, the air bubbles present can be ejected
to the outside through the passage 8 by the priming etc., or air
bubbles are retained in the groove in a lower part of the insertion
member. Thus, it is possible to absorb air bubbles to the outside
of the mixing/charging port through the insertion member 4.
Therefore, with such a configuration, air bubbles generated in
the mixing/charging port or present as a contaminant in the mixing/charging
port can be absorbed by inserting the insertion member deeply into
the mixing/charging port. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the
risk that air bubbles are infused into the patient when transfusing
blood or infusing a drug solution is carried out.
Moreover, if the bottom surface of the seating 7 is located in
an extremely high level, the depressed part of the valve reaches
the bottom surface, which may obstruct the insertion of the insertion
member. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the distance between the
annular rib 5 and the slit 3 is represented by R.sub.1, and as shown
in FIG. 4B, the distance between the upper end of the fitting hole
6 formed with the cover 2 and the bottom surface of the seating
7 is represented by D.sub.1. In the case that R.sub.1 is set to
be about 3 mm and D.sub.1 is set to be 5.3 to 5.5 mm, it is confirmed
experimentally that as long as D.sub.1 and R.sub.1 satisfy the following
relationship (Formula 1), the insertion member 4 can be inserted
without difficulty. 1.75R.sub.1.ltoreq.D.sub.1.ltoreq.1.85R.sub.1
(Formula 1)
The invention may be embodied in other forms without departing
from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiments
disclosed in this application are to be considered in all respects
as illustrative and not limitative, the scope of the invention is
indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description,
and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency
of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.
|