Infusion device with dosage dial control
A disposable infusion device comprises a base arranged to adhere to a patient's skin, a cannula arranged to extend from the base to beneath the patient's skin to deliver a liquid medicament to the patient, and a source arranged to provide the cannula with a liquid medicament. The device further includes an actuator that actuates the source to provide the liquid medicament to the cannula. The source is arranged to provide, with each actuation, a fixed volume of medicament to the cannula. A control sets the fixed volume.
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This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/782,941, filed on Mar. 16, 2006, which is incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUNDTight control over the delivery of insulin in both type I (usually juvenile onset) and type II (usually late adult onset), has been shown to improve the quality of life as well as the general health of these patients. Insulin delivery has been dominated by subcutaneous injections of both long acting insulin to cover the basal needs of the patient and by short acting insulin to compensate for meals and snacks. Recently, the development of electronic, external insulin infusion pumps has allowed the continuous infusion of fast acting insulin for the maintenance of the basal needs as well as the compensatory doses for meals and snacks. These infusion systems have shown to improve control of blood glucose levels, however, they suffer the drawbacks of size, cost, and complexity, which prevents many patients from accepting this technology over the standard subcutaneous injections. These pumps are electronically controlled and must be programmed to supply the desired amounts of basal and bolus insulin.
SUMMARYIn one embodiment, the invention provides a disposable infusion device comprising a base arranged to adhere to a patient's skin, a cannula arranged to extend from the base to beneath the patient's skin to deliver a liquid medicament to the patient, a source arranged to provide the cannula with a liquid medicament, an actuator that actuates the source to provide the liquid medicament to the cannula, the source being arranged to provide, with each actuation, a fixed volume of medicament to the cannula, and a control that sets the fixed volume.
The source may include a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament. The control may comprise a rotatable dial. The source may include a pump, the pump having a liquid medicament holding capacity, and the control may vary the amount of the pump holding capacity to be pumped to the cannula upon each actuation. The pump may comprise a compressible tube and the control may be arranged to control the portion of the compressible tube that is compressed with each actuation.
The pump may include a disk having a circumferential surface that supports the compressible tube and a strap coupled to the actuator that compresses a portion of the compressible tube against the disk circumference. The disk may be provided with a groove within its circumferential surface, the groove having a depth that increases along the disk circumference. The groove may be arranged to receive the compressible tube, and the disk being rotatable to vary the length of the groove receiving the compressible tube to adjust the portion of the tube that is compressed and the volume of liquid medicament pumped to the cannula with each actuation of the actuator. The disk may be rotated by a rotatable dial. The source may further include a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament and the compressible tube communicates with the reservoir.
In another embodiment, a disposable infusion device comprises a base arranged to adhere to a patient's skin, a cannula arranged to extend from the base to beneath the patient's skin to deliver a liquid medicament to the patient and a source arranged to provide the cannula with a liquid medicament. The source includes a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament and a pump that pumps the liquid medicament from the reservoir to the cannula. The device further comprises an actuator that actuates the pump to cause the pump to provide the liquid medicament to the cannula. The pump is arranged to provide, with each actuation, a fixed volume of medicament to the cannula, The device still further comprises a control that varies the fixed volume.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with further features and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify identical elements, and wherein:
The port 10 further includes a cannula 15. The cannula 15 is carried by the funnel port 12. As known in the art, once the needle 14 and cannula 15 are positioned beneath the skin 18 as shown, the needle 14 is removed leaving the cannula 15 in a deployed position and ready to deliver insulin to the patient.
In the case when the system 30 includes multiple reservoirs, the system may have a mechanism for the selection of which insulin is infused at any given time. It also may provide control over how much of each particular insulin is determined to be delivered by having the patient depress the actuator 38 a desired number of times. For example, each activation might deliver 0.5 units of insulin. Therefore, if 3 units of insulin are desired, 6 depressions will deliver the desired amount.
The insulin in reservoir 52 is constantly delivered under the control of a mechanical timer pump 56. The timer pump is of the type known in the art to include a winder 58, a wind-up spring 60, and gears 62. The gears 62 drive a worn gear 63 and lead screw 65 to drive a piston 67. The piston 67 thus pressurizes the reservoir 52 to provide a constant flow of insulin to the cannula 66. When a bolus of fast acting insulin is required, such as at meals, the port 54 is used to inject the fast acting insulin into the reservoir 52. When the reservoir is full, further injected insulin will displace a like quantity of insulin from reservoir 52 thereby injecting the same into and out of the cannula 66.
Referring now to
More specifically, the device 120 includes a reservoir 122 for containing a fast acting insulin. The device further includes disk 124 having a groove 126 that increases in depth along the circumference of the disk 124. A flexible tube 130 extends from the reservoir 122 around the disk 124 and within the groove 126. A strap 132 extends from a fixed tie point 134 along the tube 130 to an actuator 136. As the disk is rotated in the clockwise direction, an increasing length of the tube 130 will reside in the groove 126. Conversely, counter-clockwise rotation of disk 124 will cause a decreased length of the tube 130 to reside in the groove 126. When the actuator 136 is moved in the direction of arrow 138, the strap 132 acts upon (compresses) the portion of the tube 130 not in the groove 126 to cause a measured bolus of insulin to be delivered to the infusion tube 140. Hence, as more tubing is acted upon by the strap 132, a larger volume bolus is delivered by peristaltic action. The disk 124 may be rotated by a dial, such as the dial 82 of the device 86 of
As may be noted, the pump includes a resilient membrane 174 sealed to a base 176 by a sealing ring 178. The base may be adhered to the patient's skin by adhesive tape (not shown). The pump 170 also includes an intake valve 180 which permits insulin to enter the inner cavity 184 formed by the membrane 174 and base 176 when the membrane returns to the configuration shown in
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, modifications may be made, and it is therefore intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by those claims.
Claims
1. A disposable infusion device comprising:
- a base arranged to adhere to a patient's skin;
- a cannula arranged to extend from the base to beneath the patient's skin to deliver a liquid medicament to the patient;
- a source arranged to provide the cannula with a liquid medicament;
- an actuator that actuates the source to provide the liquid medicament to the cannula, the source being arranged to provide, with each actuation, a fixed volume of medicament to the cannula; and
- a control that sets the fixed volume.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the source includes a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the control comprises a rotatable dial.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the source includes a pump, wherein the pump has a liquid medicament holding capacity, and wherein the control varies the amount of the pump holding capacity to be pumped to the cannula upon each actuation.
5. The device of claim 4, wherein the pump comprises a compressible tube and wherein the control controls the portion of the compressible tube that is compressed with each actuation.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein the pump further includes a disk having a circumferential surface that supports the compressible tube, a strap coupled to the actuator that compresses a portion of the compressible tube against the disk circumference, wherein the disk has a groove within its circumferential surface, the groove having a depth that increases along the disk circumference, the groove being arranged to receive the compressible tube, and the disk being rotatable to vary the length of the groove receiving the compressible tube to adjust the portion of the tube that is compressed and the volume of liquid medicament pumped to the cannula with each actuation of the actuator.
7. The device of claim 6, wherein the control comprises a rotatable dial and wherein the disk is arranged to be rotated by the rotatable dial.
8. The device of claim 5, wherein the source further includes a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament and wherein the compressible tube communicates with the reservoir.
9. A disposable infusion device comprising:
- a base arranged to adhere to a patient's skin;
- a cannula arranged to extend from the base to beneath the patient's skin to deliver a liquid medicament to the patient;
- a source arranged to provide the cannula with a liquid medicament, the source including a reservoir that holds the liquid medicament and a pump that pumps the liquid medicament from the reservoir to the cannula;
- an actuator that actuates the pump to cause the pump to provide the liquid medicament to the cannula, the pump being arranged to provide, with each actuation, a fixed volume of medicament to the cannula; and
- a control that varies the fixed volume.
10. The device of claim 9, wherein the control comprises a rotatable dial.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 12, 2007
Publication Date: Dec 27, 2007
Applicant:
Inventors: Clifton Alferness (Port Orchard, WA), John Adams (Kirkland, WA), Daniel Hawkins (Newcastle, WA)
Application Number: 11/705,814
International Classification: A61M 5/142 (20060101);