Abstract: A calibration system and method for calibrating a medical sensor (16) that monitors chemical blood gases. A calibrator (12) is used in connection with a tray (14) in which the medical sensor is stored in a sterile environment, both before and during the calibration process. The medical sensor is immersed in a liquid (30) in a tonometry chamber (28) defined in the tray and covered by a membrane (120/122) that is permeable to gas, but impermeable to bacteria. During the calibration process, the tray is inserted into the calibrator, bringing a heated platen (26) into contact with the tonometry chamber, so that the liquid can be heated to a calibration temperature substantially equal to the temperature at which the medical sensor will subsequently be used. A first calibration gas is then bubbled through the liquid until a saturated condition is achieved.

Abstract: An improved package for a medical device includes an inner wrap that envelopes the medical device, the inner wrap including a gas-permeable surface, and a chamber defined in the inner wrap to store a hydratable sensor of the medical device. Plumbing for the package controls fluid flow into and within the inner wrap, to selectively establish, without breaching a portion of the inner wrap surrounding the sensor, fluid communication between the gas-permeable surface and the sensor, to sterilize the sensor and the inner wrap with a gaseous sterilant, or to hydrate the sensor with hydration fluid obtained from a source of hydration fluid connected to the chamber, or to equilibrate the hydration fluid in the chamber with an external source of gas, to calibrate the sensor within the inner wrap.

Abstract: A shut-off valve incorporating a tube-cutting member, and including a tubing support channel extending through the valve body. An actuator closes off, and then severs, a tubing section which is extended through the channel in the valve during an actuation stroke of the valve, the actuator including first and second spaced-apart, generally parallel slots provided in the valve body and intersecting the tubing support channel, and a driving member and first and second actuating members, each actuating member disposed in a respective slot of the valve body. During a mid-portion of the actuation stroke, the first actuating member first engages, and then closes, the tubing disposed across the first slot. At the end of the actuation stroke, after the tubing has been closed, the second actuating member severs the tubing disposed across the second slot.