Abstract: A luer receiving medical valve for the sterile transfer of fluid from a luer-tapered male end having a surrounding female luer lock threaded end. The luer receiver includes a housing having an inlet and an outlet and a lumen extending from the inlet to the outlet. An elastomeric sealing member occludes the inlet and has a slit extending through it. In a preferred embodiment, a support is provided adjacent the housing inlet and adjacent the sealing member. The support includes opposing posts separated by slots, the slots permitting expansion of the sealing member when the male luer is inserted into the slit.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for maintaining the concentration of glucose in a person, animal or tissue within a predetermined range is disclosed. An implanted sensor of living cells produces a detectable electrical signal which varies with the concentration of glucose. A controller detects the electrical signal produced by the sensor and determines if the concentration of glucose is within the predetermined range. If the glucose is too low or too high, the controller activates a pump causing either glucose or glucagon, or insulin to be delivered to the person until the glucose level is within the predetermined range. A separate pump for delivering each of the glucose and insulin may be used, or a single pump which is switchable between them may be used. The system may be adapted to maintain other constituents or conditions within a predetermined range by changing the sensor in use, and by using agents and counteragents appropriate to the condition or constituent level being monitored.

Abstract: A dripless cannula system usable with a syringe or other fluid container in a fluid sampling procedure and operable to minimize retention of residual fluids at a sampling site following the sampling procedure. In the preferred embodiment, a vacuum chamber operatively connected to a blunt cannula of the dripless cannula system is operative upon withdrawal of the cannula from the sampling site to draw residual fluids at the site into the vacuum chamber for subsequent disposal. The dripless cannula system of the present invention is a simple, effective apparatus for minimizing the presence of residual fluids at a sampling site following a sampling procedure.

Abstract: A valve for medical use has a cannula mounted on a hub and fixed in a fluid conduit so that the cannula points upstream. An elastomeric valve element is mounted on the hub within the conduit so as to enclose the cannula. The valve element has a first solid portion of circular cross-section disposed upstream of the cannula point which closes the conduit, a second hollow frustoconical portion within which the cannula point is disposed, and a third hollow cylindrical portion surrounding the cannula downstream from its point and fixed to the hub. The second portion has a frustoconical interior passageway. In use, the valve element is compressed by application of a medical appliance to the valve element first portion to cause the cannula point to pierce the first portion to provide a path for fluid flow through the conduit.

Abstract: Methods are disclosed for the alleviation of movement disorders via the implantation of static devices which focally release neuroinhibitory compounds to preselected brain areas. Pathological conditions to be treated by these methods include parkinsonian movement disorders, Huntington's chorea, and epileptiform seizure activity. In the treatment of parkinsonism, target areas implantation include the subthalamic nucleus, the globus pallidus internus, and the substantia nigra pars reticulata. In the treatment of epilepsy, implants may be placed in an epileptogenic focus area of neural over-activity. The devices may be polymeric implants that release neuroinhibitory compounds such as GABA, GABA agonists, GABA potentiators, action potential blockers and voltage dependent calcium channel blockers, and glutamate antagonists. Alternatively, the devices may contain living cells which secrete neuroinhibitory compounds.

Abstract: A fluid delivery device for delivery and mixing of fibrin glue components at a treatment site during surgery includes a slidable sleeve for controlling interaction of fluid dispensed from a pair of adjacent tubes. A pair of syringes are attached to a fluid separation control attachment which allows the fluids from each of the syringes to be forced into the adjacent tubes. When the fluids exit the free ends of the adjacent tubes, they interact and mix when the slidable sleeve thereon is in one position, but are inhibited from interacting and mixing when the slidable sleeve is in another position.

Abstract: A trocar assembly consisting of a trocar tube subassembly and a separate interengageable trocar body subassembly is provided. The trocar body subassembly includes an elongated obturator having a sharp pointed tip which is normally housed within an elongated tube of the trocar tube subassembly. The obturator is extendable from a retracted position within the tube wherein the tip is recessed from the tube end to an operative position forward of said tube end and outside the tube. By manually advancing the trocar assembly against a body wall, the resisting force locks the obturator in the operative position. Relaxation of the force incident to passing through the body wall causes the obturator to be automatically unlocked and retracted to its initial position with the tip positioned protectively within the tube, thereby protecting body tissues and organs from being damaged by the tip when it enters a body cavity beyond the wall.

Abstract: A microprocessor controlled transdermal medication patch system wherein said medication is dispensed internally by positive displacement from multiple reservoirs within said patch so as to vary the drug selection, sequence, and concentration and thereby the regimen and release rate. In a preferred embodiment, electric resistance heating elements activate multiple heat-shrink polymer reservoirs to dispence beneficial fluids into a common absorbent layer for transdermal passage.

Abstract: The invention provides a dual lumen vascular access catheter having a compact connection structure free of flexible tubing and including valves providing a visual indication of the status of the valves and hence of the catheter. The catheter includes a flexible main body defining first and second lumens and extending longitudinally between proximal and distal ends, and a relatively rigid compact connection structure is coupled directly to the main body at the proximal end of the main body. The connection structure includes a housing defining the first and second channels which extend from the first and second lumens in communication with these lumens for providing flow between the lumens and external equipment. First and second valves in the housing are positioned in the respective first and second channels in fixed relationship one with the other.

Abstract: An over-the-wire rapid-exchange catheter having a guidewire channel and a rupturable membrane along one side of the guidewire channel. The catheter is exchanged by withdrawing the catheter from a guiding catheter, while stripping the operative catheter from the guidewire by tearing the guidewire through the rupturable membrane. The guidewire channel provides a sealing surface for a releasable seal on the guiding catheter, avoiding the gripping of the guidewire. A replacement catheter can be threaded onto the guidewire, and the end of the guidewire can puncture the rupturable membrane at a selected location to establish a guidewire channel at the distal end of the catheter.

Abstract: A pill crushing syringe is disclosed which includes a barrel and a plunger, with abraded surfaces on each so that a pill placed in the barrel is crushed as the plunger advances within the barrel. The barrel has an aperture located near the closed end with a catheter connected around and extending from the aperture. The plunger has a sealing gland to provide an airtight seal with the barrel so that liquid may be drawn into the barrel through the aperture by withdrawing the plunger from the barrel to thereby suspend the crushed pill in the liquid, and the suspension may be flushed from the barrel by thereafter advancing the plunger into the barrel. In an alternative embodiment, a bi-level barrel has an aperture in spaced relation to the closed end forming a pocket wherein the crushed pill ingredients accumulate. The pocket at the closed end and the separation between the aperture and the barrel closed end helps prevent the medication from escaping the barrel via the catheter prior to aspiration.

Abstract: The protected needle assembly employs a retractable sheath which can be moved from an extended protected position over a hollow needle to a retracted position exposing the hollow needle. A projection carried on the sheath is disposed in a guide slot having a circumferentially directed portion for receiving the projection. In addition, a spring or resilient sleeve is provided between the movable sheath and the housing to not only bias the sheath longitudinally of the hollow needle but also in a circumferential manner. In order to release the sheath, the needle assembly is brought into contact with a patient's skin or a septum and twisted. Thereafter, an axial force on the needle assembly causes the sheath to be retracted while the hollow needle penetrates through the skin or septum. Other embodiments are provided wherein a blunt needle can be moved within a hollow needle from an extended position protecting the hollow needle and a retracted position permitting exposure of the hollow needle.

Abstract: A disposable safety guard for syringe needles and the like, the safety guard being adapted to laterally receive the tip of a needle in an elongated interior chamber within a body member. The interior encloses a high frictional surfaced gripping device which receives the syringe needle in a lateral direction and prevents the needle from being removed therefrom, after it is secured therein. In a preferred embodiment, the gripping mechanism comprises a rectangular shaped plastic component having two planar members joined by a thinned or living hinge permitting the component to be folded in half so that it may conform to the shape of the interior of the body member and close upon the needle. In that preferred embodiment of the invention, a series of ridges on the folded interior surface of the gripper component increases the frictional engagement with the syringe needle. The gripper component has a pair of lips designed to engage a plurality of ratchet teeth in the interior walls of the body member chamber.

Abstract: A method of depositing reproductive material into the reproductive tract of a female comprising inserting an elongated transfer catheter into the reproductive tract of a female. The transfer catheter includes an elongated catheter body having an elongated passage extending through the catheter body and terminating in a distal opening at a distal end of the catheter body. The distal opening opens both axially and laterally of the catheter body. The method also includes introducing the reproductive biological material through the passage and the distal opening of the catheter body into the reproductive tract.

Abstract: A flexible catheter is provided for use with an antenna which radiates high-frequency or microwave energy, the catheter having a carrier tube and an outer layer of microporous polytetrafluoroethylene on the outer circumference of the carrier tube.

Abstract: A syringe system for delivering fluid with a volume displacement assembly intensifier for expelling a predetermined volume of fluid from the syringe while activated. A syringe having a barrel and a syringe plunger is selectively operable to deliver fluid from the syringe barrel, and the volume displacement assembly is mounted in fluid communication with the barrel of the syringe. When the volume displacement assembly is activated, a predetermined amount of volume is displaced from the syringe into the balloon of a balloon catheter. Deactivation results in balloon deflation. A predetermined degree of inflation may be reproducibly obtained without the exercise of deliberate care as required with conventional syringes lacking a volume displacement assembly.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing an injectable preparation of a pharmaceutically active agent suitable for storage in a dual-chamber injection cartridge. A dual chamber injection cartridge is provided, including: a barrel; a front chamber for a solid component; a rear chamber for a liquid component; a displaceable front piston separating the front and rear chambers; a closure sealing the front end of the barrel; and a constriction between the front and rear ends of the barrel. The constriction has a non-circular cross-section and an openable bypass connection permitting passage of liquid between the rear and front chambers. Prior to opening the bypass connection, the front piston is positioned between the constriction and the rear end of the barrel. The constriction resists displacement of the front piston in a direction of the front end of the barrel when the piston is in the vicinity of the constriction.

Abstract: The invention provides a triple lumen catheter for use in treatment of humans by inserting the catheter into a blood vessel over a Seldinger guidewire, and using the catheter to extract blood at a selected location in the blood vessel and to return treated blood downstream of the location after treatment. The catheter includes an elongate body and a tip at the distal end of the body. The body has an outer wall and an integral internal septum combining with the outer wall to define a pair of similar C-shaped lumens extending longitudinally in the body. The outer wall of the body defines at least one intake aperture and at least one return aperture and the intake aperture is spaced longitudinally from the tip and from the return aperture with the return aperture being nearer the tip than is the intake lumen. The septum defines a third lumen smaller than the C-shaped lumens and proportioned to slidably receive the guidewire during insertion and to provide a path for the medicament after insertion.

Abstract: A medical probe apparatus comprising a catheter having a stylet guide housing with at least one stylet port in a side thereof and a stylet guide for directing a flexible stylet outward through at least one stylet port and through intervening tissue to targeted tissues. The stylet guide has a biopsy sample device or other tissue manifesting device at the distal end thereof to gather tissue or perform other operations at the point of the desired tissue such as emitting electromagnetic energy as ablative power to target tissues;.One embodiment of the biopsy sample stylet includes a hollow core sampler including a biopsy needle apparatus for gathering sample tissue. The hollow core sampler has a sharpened end for facilitating the penetration into and gathering of the sample tissue. A second embodiment of the biopsy sample stylet includes a harpoon-like sample stylet when the sharp tip thereof allows for easy entry into the target tissue.

Abstract: A catheter having a therapeutic agent chemically bonded to a substrate on its exterior surface using a linker which photolytically releases the agent upon exposure to light energy at an appropriate wavelength. The linker is attached to the substrate via a complementary chemical group, with the opposing end containing an aromatic ring with a nitro group in the ortho position relative to a methyl or ethyl group which is functionalized to accept a complementary bond to the therapeutic agent. The substrate may include materials such as glass, polyamide, polyester, polyolefin, polypropylene, polyurethane, or latex. The therapeutic agent may include peptides, proteins, steroids, carbohydrates, nucleotides, or other aliphatic or heterocyclic products, and may be bonded to a molecular lattice or meshwork to accommodate a high molecular concentration per unit area and the inclusion of ancillary compounds such as markers or secondary emitters.