Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CAPPING _EVICE FOR CONDUIT CONMECrrOR
BACKGROUND OF T E INVEN'rION
Field of the Invention
This in~ention relate~ to cappin~ devices associated
with endotracheal tube connectors.
,,
Backqround Art
During continuous mechanical ventilation of patients,
a eommon elinical practice involves the use of Positive End
Expiratory Pressure, wherein the ventilator provides a
speeific amount of pressure, measured in centimeters of
water pressure, durin~ the expiratory phase c3f ventilatlon.
This "pressure breathing" faeilitates ventilating the
entire lung system of the patient, and assists ths
breathing of those with injuries or debilitating illnesse~
having breathing difficulties. The slight positive
pressure of the ineoming air during gas assisk inhalation
must be overcome during expiration, and suitable valves and
pressure regulators are plaeed in the ventila~ion eireuit
to allow for expiration.
It is often necessary to have aeeess to a patient's
airways during mechanieal ventilation~ ~or example, one
proeedure that i5 frequently earried out cluring Positive
End Expiratory:Pressure-assisted ~reathing is bronchoseopy.
Bronehoseopy involves the insertion of a thin instrument,
ealled a bro:nchoscope, lnto a patient's a.irways for visual
.inspeetion Oe the patie:nt's lung and. hronehial passages~
:[f aecess i.F. not p:rovi.cled for in the venti.lati.on syst:eml
the patient must be d:i.seonneeted from the ventilator prl.or
to l.nse:rtion Oe the. hronchoscope.
U.S. Patent :No. 4,416,273 to Grimes shows a cap valve
assemhly whieh has a eap that allows for the admission of
a thin tubular instrument while keeping sealed the end of
th.e c:onneetor through which ths instrument is lnserted.
2~
Howe~er the Gri~es cap suffers from the disadvantage that
the only way to fully open the connector is to completely
disconnect the cap from the connector thereby risking loss
of the cap.
U.S. Patent No. 4 580 556 to Kondur discloses a
plugged connector cap wherein hoth the plug and the cap are
independently tied to the connector by cords. While the
cap cord of Kondur permits removal of -the cap from its
connector opening wlthout disconnectlnq -the cap from the
connec-tor the cord can not be easily removed from the
connector if it is desired to completely disconnect khe cap
from the connector such as to replace the cap.
Accordingly there remains a need in the art for
improvements in capping devices -for covering openings in
conduit connectors~
_MMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a capping device for
coverinq the mouth of an access port of a conduit connector
and a combination of such a capping device with a conduit
connector. The capping device includes a cap having a
downwardly extending skirt and an access opening through
which a bronchoscope catheter or other small diameter
medical device may be inserted. The skirt includes an
inwardly extending rim around its internal surface which
detachably snaps over a lip around the mouth of the port.
The access opening is selectively sealable ~y a
complementary plug that is tethered to the cap by a
elexible tether strap. The capping clevice further includes
a Elexible anchor strap extending Erom the cap which snaps
~0 onto a knob on-the condui-t connector -thereby retaining the
cap on the connector when not covering the mouth oE the
access port.
BRIEF DESCR PTION OE DRAWINGS,
Figure l is a:n exploded, cross sectional view o~ the
capping deviee and conneetor aceording to one emhodiment
of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a top plan vi,ew of the embodiment shown
in Figure 'L.
Figure 3 is a eross seetional view taken alany line
3-3 of Figure 2.
_ETAILED DESCRIP'rION OF THE PREFERRE~_EMBODIMENT
Referr.ing now to Figures 1 and 2~ there ls shown a
eapping deviee 'L0 whieh ineludes a eap 12 and a plug 22
tethered to the eap 12 by a tether strap 24. The eap 'L2
ineludes a eover portion 14 which extends toward the center
of the cap, leaving an aceess opening 20 which is sized to
provide a substantially airtight fit with the body of
examining instruments such as bronehoscope (not shown).
A eontinuous skirt 16 extends downwarclly from the
cover portion 14. In the embodiment shown, the eapping
deviee 10 is made in one piece of a soft elastomeri.c
material, sueh as silieone rubber or thermoplastie
elastomer.
A eonneetor 40, which is shown as being generally T-
shaped, has three inlets 42, 52 and 54 to a eommon
passageway within eonneetor 40. An aeeess port 50 provides
aeeess -to inlet 42 via mouth 58, over whieh the eap 12 is
snap-engaged. The eap is snapped in plaee on the eonneetor
40 by the engagement of a first inte:rio.r rirn 1.8 over a lip
~4 around the mouth 58 of the aecess port 50, ta :Eorm a
seali,ng :E:i.t. A .seeond r:i.m 30, parallel to the ~irst rim
l3~ may :be provided on the eap 'L2 to improve sea:Linq oE eap
12 over aeeess port 5(). The eonnector ~0 has rl ~nob
eonveniently loeated adjac~ent the connec-to:r mouth 58, as
shown in Fic~ure l.
The eapping clevic,e 10 a:Lso has an anchor strclp 26
which ex-tends from the cap 12. The aneh.or strap 26 has a
keeper opening 28 which is snapped over the knob 48 on the
connector 40 to anchor the capping device 10 to the
connector 40 when :not covering the access port 50. As
shown in Fig. 1., kno~ ~8 extends outwardly of access port
50 ~y means to a neck 56. qhe diameter of the keeper
opening 28 is smaller than the diameter of the knob 48.
Thus, the anchor strap 26 is retained on the neck 56 after
it is snapped over the knob 48. When the cap 12 is not
sealing mouth 58, the neck 56 ailows the cap 12 to be
easily rota-ted out the way of mouth 58 or perEorming a
medical procedure through mouth 58. In the embodiment
shown in Figures 2 and 3, the width o~ the anchor strap 26
is greater than the width of the te-ther strap 24, thereby
making the ancho-r strap less flexible and less subject to
t~Jisting than the tether strap. This facilitates rotation
of anchor strap 26 about neck 56. For ease of operation
the anchor strap 26 is made shorter than the tether strap
24 in the embodiment shown~ thereby preventing the capping
device 10 from flopping about while it is anchored to the
conneetor 40 by anchor strap 26 alone. As shown in Figures
1 and 2, a pull tab 34 may be provided on the plug 22 to
allow the plug 22 to be more easily removed from -the access
opening 20.
While the con:neetor shown in this embodiment is a
reetangular, generally T-shaped connector it is understood
that other types of connectors, such as Y-shaped
~onneetors, may al.so he used w:ith the cappi.ng dev:i.ce of the
p:resent :i.nvent;.c)n.
Wherl a pat.i.en-t .is on mechln.i.cal ventilatlo~ i.t may
be ctesirab:le to pass an examining lnstrument such as a
brorlchoseope (not shown) into the patiarlt's airways ~eo:r
visual examirlat1.orl the:reo:E. Also a patient on mechan:i.ccll.
ventil.ation may :requi-re Erequerlt suc-t:i.onirlc3 through a
suction catheter (not shown) to maintain proper b:ronchial.
35~.
hyyiene~ ~oth the bronchoscope and catheter are long,
slender, tubular devices that may be inserte.d throuyh the
endotracheal tube connector and endotracheal tube when in
place.
A bronchoscope, catheter or other slender instru~ent
of suitable diameter may be inserted through the access
opening 20 of the cap 12. In preferred embodiments, the
access opening 20 is about 3 to 4 mm (~14 to .15 in) in
diameter and the resilience of the cap 12 allows the
opening 20 to stretch to accomodate instruments up to about
8 mm in diameter. When a suitably sized instrument is
inserted throu~h the access opening 20, the cover portion
14 squeezes about the inserted instrument, sealiny the
access port 50 against loss of tidal volume. The present
invention thus maintains positive system pressure while a
suitahly si~ed bronchoscope or catheter is present within
access opening 20 of cap 12. After the instrument is
removed, the plug 22 may be quickly inserted into access
opening 20 of cap 12 to reseal the opening.
In certain instances, such as for suctioning
procedures which require an openi.ng larger than that
provided by the access opening 20 in the cap 12, the cap 12
may be released from its position sealing the mouth 58 of
access port 50. ~ecause the cap 12 :is flexible, it is
readily released by unsnappiny the skirt 16 ~rom its
position over the lip ~4 of the acce.ss port 50. Qnce the
cap 12 .is disengaged :~rom lip ~4, a larye diameter
suct.ioning catheter or other inst:rument may be inserted
directly through ~outh 58 and inlet 42 o~ access port 50.
Because the cappin~ device lO remains attached to the
connector ~0 by the anchcr strap 26, the cappiIly device 10
is rata:ined just out o~ the way of the procedure bei.ny
per.~or~ed so that it may be qui.ckly replaced over the mouth
58 at the end o~ the procedure by snappiny the sk.irt 16
over the lip 44 of the access port 50. Also, the cappiny
~o~
device 10 can be completely snap-disengaged from the
connector ~0, if desired, such as for cap replacement.
This can be carried out without disassembly of the
ventilation tubing, as is required with some prior art
devic~s.
A present invention provides a convenient-to-use
capping device for covering a conduit connector mouth of a
ventilating device. The capping device of the in~ention
permits selective access through a selectively plugged
access port for complementarily sized instruments. For
access with larger size instruments, the cap can be
snapped-disengaged from the mouth of the conduit connector
and rotated completely out of the way of the conduit mouth,
while remaining anchored to the conduit connector by a
separately snap-engageable anchor strap.
Since many modifications, variations and changes in
detail may be made to the described embodiment, it is
intended that all matter in the forgoing description and
shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as
illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
