Front-loading syringe adapter for front-loading medical injector
A syringe adapter, which permits use of syringes of various types and sizes to be used with a front-loading injector, includes a piston extension and an adapter face plate. The piston extension includes structure for connecting the piston extension to a drive piston of the injector and a plunger of the syringe. The adapter face plate includes a mounting device for attaching the adapter face plate to an injector and a recess for receiving the distal flange of the syringe. The adapter face plate may also include locking pivot arms for releasably engaging the syringe flange.
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/065,668, filed on Nov. 7, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/631,422, filed on Aug. 3, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,634, which is a divisional of Application Ser. No. 09/125,454, filed on Mar. 27, 1997, as PCT International Application No. PCT/US97/05014 designating the United States, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,913, which claims the benefit of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/014,472, filed on Mar. 29, 1996, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to adapters for releasably attaching and removing syringes to medical injectors, and more particularly to adapters for releasably attaching and removing syringes of various types and sizes to front-loading injectors.
Medical injectors and syringes containing fluid, such as contrast media, are commonly used to inject fluid into a patient in a wide variety of diagnostic imaging procedures. Injectors of the front-loading type are often used in such procedures. U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and fully incorporated herein by reference, provides a detailed description of injectors of the front-loading type and corresponding syringe designs. One advantage of the front-loading injector of U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858 is that a syringe can readily be loaded onto and removed from the injector head without the need to disconnect the fluid path from the syringe to the patient. Another advantage of the front-loading injector of U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858 is that the drive means of the injector head may be disengaged and retracted from the syringe plunger without retracting the syringe plunger, thus substantially reducing the risk of withdrawing fluid from the patient after completion of the diagnostic procedure. This feature is also taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,980, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and fully incorporated herein by reference.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858, a syringe used with a front-loading injector requires a specially designed readily releasable mounting mechanism for securing the syringe to the front wall of the injector head and a specially designed readily releasable mounting mechanism for securing the syringe plunger to the piston head of the injector. These required mounting mechanisms oftentimes increase the cost of the syringes and prohibit the use of syringes of other various types, sizes and configurations with front-loading injectors. Thus, it is desirable to design adapters for use with syringes of various types, sizes and configurations to permit use of these syringes with front-loading injectors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe syringe adapters of the present invention permit use of syringes of various types, sizes and configurations to be used with front-loading injectors, particularly front-loading injectors with or without a removable injector face plate.
In one embodiment of the invention, for use with a front-loading injector having a removable injector face plate, the adapter includes an adapter face plate having a readily releasable mounting mechanism for attaching the adapter face plate to the front wall of the injector head after the injector face plate is removed. A removable pin insertable into the adapter face plate and the front wall of the injector head is provided to prohibit the adapter face plate from rotating with respect to front wall of the injector head.
The adapter further includes a reducing sleeve formed of a reducing base and reducing edge connected to the proximal surface of the reducing base. The edge and base cooperate to form a recess for receiving the syringe distal flange. The adapter further includes a syringe attachment mechanism, for example, locking pivot arms pivotally attached to the proximal surface of the edge. The reducing edge is preferably made from a material having a low coefficient of friction to permit easy and smooth movement of locking pivot arms.
In one embodiment, locking pivot arms are connected by a gear link, which permits simultaneous movement of the arms when only one arm is grasped by the operator to move the arms into an opened or closed position. The inside surface of each pivot arm includes first beveled surfaces to permit reception of the syringe flange when pivot arms are in an open position, and second beveled surfaces to engage the distal end of the syringe body when the pivot arms are in a closed position. Pivot arm ends opposite pivot points are cammed to engage and lock around lock point extending from the reducing edge.
The adapter further includes a piston extension to extend the injector drive piston for engagement with the syringe plunger. The piston extension includes means for attaching the extension to the syringe plunger and means for attaching the extension to the injector drive piston. Piston extensions of various diameters and lengths are used to permit use of syringes having various inner diameters and plunger locations.
In another embodiment of the invention, for use with a front-loading injector without a removable face plate, the adapter includes an adapter base from which a readily releasable mounting mechanism extends to permit the attachment to and removal of the adapter from the opening in the front wall of the injector head. All of the other adapter elements previously described may be included in this embodiment.
For injectors with or without removable face plates, the adapter used may also include signal generating means and the injector may include corresponding sensors which cooperate with one another to indicate to the injector that the adapter is properly attached and to automatically calibrate the injector to adjust, for example, flow rate and pressure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
As more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858, front-loading injectors have an injector head, including a front wall and an opening formed therein, and a drive member, such as a piston having a piston head, reciprocally mounted within the injector head and extendible through the injector head. In one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
As shown in
Adapter 100 further includes a reducing sleeve 140 formed of a reducing base 160 and reducing edge 180 connected to the proximal surface of base 160. Edge 180 and base 160 cooperate to form a recess 190 for receiving the distal flange 44 of syringe 40. Reducing base 160 is secured within adapter face plate 120 and includes an opening 170, which permits forward and reverse movement of the injector piston 16 of injector 10. Reducing edge 180 is preferably made from a material having a low coefficient of friction to facilitate easy and smooth movement of the syringe attachment mechanism such as locking pivot arms 220 and 240 pivotally attached to the proximal surface of edge 180, as described below.
In the present invention, the syringe attachment mechanism may include locking pivot arms 220 and 240 pivoting at points 260 and 280, respectively, to releasably engage syringe flange 44. In one embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
Similar to the injector face plate 20 of
The adapter face plate 120 and injector head 10 may also include cooperating means for indicating to the injector head 10 that the adapter face plate 120 is properly attached to the injector head 10. Further, the cooperating means may also automatically calibrate the injector head 10 to adjust, for example, flow rate and pressure when an adapter face plate 120 is attached to the injector head 10. For example, as shown in
To use the adapter shown in
If adapter 400 is properly attached to the syringe receiving port 500, detent 410 of ear 404b activates sensor 510 of the injector head 10, shown in
When adapter 400 is not attached to the syringe receiving port 500, other sensors 512, 514, and 516 may be provided in injector head 10 to cooperate with syringe protrusions or detents when a syringe is inserted into the syringe receiving port 500 to indicate that the particular syringe is installed correctly and to identify its type, size and configuration. Operation of these sensors, protrusions and detents is similar to the sensors, protrusions and detents described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,858. Other adapter elements previously described with respect to
Another embodiment of a piston extension 550 is shown in
Although the syringe adapters of the invention have been described in detail for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that variations can be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An adapter for connecting a syringe comprising a plunger to an injector comprising a drive piston, the adapter comprising:
- a piston extension having a first end and a second end, the first end comprising a first connector member adapted to be connected to the drive piston and a second end comprising a second connector member adapted to be connected to the plunger of the syringe.
2. The adapter of claim 1 wherein the second connector member comprises threads mateable with threads formed on the plunger of the syringe.
3. The adapter of claim 2 wherein the threads on the second connector members are external threads.
4. The adapter of claim 1 wherein the first connector member comprises a protrusion mateable with a slot formed in the drive piston.
5. The adapter of claim 1 wherein the first connector member defines a slot mateable with an attachment flange formed on the drive piston.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 22, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 17, 2006
Inventors: Michael Spohn (Butler, PA), Robert Ashcraft (Butler, PA), Craig Bowser (Ford City, PA), P. Pavlik (Natrona Heights, PA), Albert Yarzebinski (Glenshaw, PA), David Reilly (Glenshaw, PA), Joseph Havrilla (Pittsburgh, PA)
Application Number: 11/387,350
International Classification: A61M 25/16 (20060101); A61M 37/00 (20060101); A61M 25/18 (20060101);