Becton Dickinson and Company Limited

Craig N Gawreluk

Weston F Harding

Glade Harold Howell

Marty Lee Stout

Steven Wayne Johnson

Kelly David Christensen

Lawrence A Monahan

James Fentress

Lantao Guo

Cynthia Anne Castro

Scott A O'Connor

Wayne M Parris

Scott A White

Michael C Larsen

Cynthia A Castro

A medical access device provides needleless access to patient fluid lines such as intravascular catheters. A retaining ring at the top end of the housing of the medical access device is molded around a septum that provides access for a tubular portion of a medical device such as a male luer taper of a syringe. Alternatively, the retaining ring may also be molded around the body or around both the body and the base of the housing. The molded retaining ring and septum are attached by mechanical attachment and/or chemical adhesion to minimize axial and rotational movement between the septum and the housing.

Medical access device

An enhanced catheter introducer and method for making the same are disclosed. The catheter introducer may have a splittable sleeve assembly configured to be inserted into a blood vessel with a cannula. The cannula may then be removed, and a catheter may be inserted into the sleeve assembly. The sleeve assembly may be removed from the catheter by pulling handles of the sleeve assembly in different directions to split the sleeve assembly into two pieces. The sleeve assembly may have failure zones that enable the sleeve assembly to be easily split; the failure zones may take the form of thinned regions running along the length of the sleeve assembly. The sleeve assembly may be injection molded with a single step by injecting flows of molten plastic into a cavity of a mold such that the flows converge into an even distribution about the circumference of the sleeve. The mold may have a core pin designed to fit into the cavity. Through the use of the even distribution of flows, the core pin may seat within the cavity in an untensioned manner.

Catheter sleeve assembly and one step injection molding process for making the same

This invention relates to a catheter having a hub or extension tube connected to the catheter cannula and including at least one stress distribution finger extending from the distal end of the extension tube around the catheter cannula at the junction between the extension tube and the catheter cannula. These stress distribution fingers distribute any stress exerted at the junction between the extension tube and the catheter cannula to avoid stress localization and improve the pull strength of the catheter.

Catheter with stress distribution fingers

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Park City, UT, United States of America

Craig N Gawreluk