Huber needle with anti-rebound safety mechanism

Abstract

A safety needle device is provided for protecting a user against needle-stick injuries. This needle device includes a needle housing having a distal housing opening. A needle is disposed within the needle housing and has a distal needle portion which extends away therefrom through the distal housing opening. An elongate sheath assembly surrounds the needle within the needle housing. A biasing member is engaged to the sheath assembly and is configured to apply a force thereupon towards the distal housing opening. The biasing member defines a centerline which is parallel to the needle's distal needle portion. An indexer is engaged to the biasing member and is operative to increase or decrease a spring force of the biasing member by rotating the indexer. A trigger member is engaged to the biasing member for retaining the sheath assembly within the needle housing against the force urging the sheath assembly towards the distal housing opening. The trigger member is sized and configured to release the biasing member. This allows the sheath assembly to transition towards and out of the distal housing opening via the force to thereby enclose the distal needle portion therewith.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 688,119 entitled “HUBER NEEDLE WITH ANTI-REBOUND SAFETY MECHANISM” filed Oct. 17, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 375,963 entitled “HUBER NEEDLE WITH ANTI-REBOUND SAFETY MECHANISM” filed Feb. 28, 2003, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 350,765 entitled “HUBER NEEDLE WITH ANTI-REBOUND SAFETY MECHANISM” filed Jan. 24, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 360,406 entitled “HUBER NEEDLE WITH ANTI-REBOUND MECHANISM” filed Feb. 28, 2002, the entirety of the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH / DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not Applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention relates generally to medical needle devices, and more particularly to an improved, passi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The present invention specifically addresses and alleviates the above-referenced deficiencies associated with the use of the Huber needle guards of the prior art. More particularly, the present invention is an improved, passive safety needle device featuring a sheath assembly which is outwardly deployable relative to the exposed portion of its affixed needle. By such deployment, a physical barrier can be placed around the needle by the sheath assembly to protect a user from being inadvertently stuck by the needle, thus preventing needle-stick injuries and all the risks that are associated with them. Although this sheath assembly is intended to be used for Huber needle applications, it is specifically recognized herein that such sheath assembly may be used in conjunction with other types of conventional needle applications as well.

[0022] The knob member allows the user to control the movement of the sheath assembly along the elongated groove. This is possible due to the mechanical connections with the proximal tip component of the sheath assembly and the biasing member. Because the preferred biasing member comprises a torsional biasing member which is configured to naturally urge the sheath assembly towards the extended position, the user may utilize the knob member to control the sheath assembly when moving along that direction. In the preferred embodiment, the biasing member comprises either a torsional arm or torsional spring. However, other types of biasing members are contemplated as they may also achieve the ultimate objective of passively deploying the sheath assembly outwardly with respect to the distal needle portion.

[0027] In accordance with a third preferred embodiment of the present invention, a different version of the passive safety needle device is described herein. This version of the safety needle device is also designed to perform the same function as the needle devices of the first and second embodiments. However, the third embodied needle device employs the use of a wholly different sheath releasing concept in doing so. More particularly, it eliminates the need for any type of proximal tip component such as a ferrule (as used in the first preferred embodiment) or a tip body (as used in the second preferred embodiment) at the proximal sheath end for retaining, releasing and moving the sheath assembly along the groove.

[0029] In particular, the extension's end portion is inserted through one side of the proximate sheath end and is allowed to come out of the generally opposing side thereof. This allows the extension to be connected to the proximate sheath end, thereby placing the biasing member in mechanical connection with the sheath assembly. Preferably, the end portion of the extension is curved or bent backward in the general direction of the biasing member so as to prevent it from inadvertently slipping out or disconnecting from the proximal sheath end unless the proximal sheath end somehow becomes torn or ruptured.

[0032] Formed at the projected end of the tip retaining projection is its engaging portion which directly engages the end portion of the biasing member. The engaging portion is positioned generally perpendicular to the projected end of the tip retaining projection and comprises a notch which faces toward the trigger member. This notch is used for releasibly engaging the end portion of the biasing member's extension until the trigger member is manually pressed. More specifically, the notch of the engaging portion preferably hooks a section of the extension's end portion which is defined either prior or subsequent to the insertion into proximal sheath end. In the preferred embodiment, the notch has a smooth and continuous surface so that the extension's end portion may be easily dislodged therefrom when the trigger member is pressed inward by the user's finger, hence deploying the sheath assembly outside the needle housing.

[0038] With respect to the indexer, the same is capable of adjusting a spring force of the biasing member. In particular, the indexer may have a cylindrical configuration. The indexer may be attached to the housing and the biasing member such that rotating the indexer is operative to increase or decrease the spring force of the biasing member.

Problems solved by technology

More specifically, a great deal of force is required during Huber needle withdrawal to overcome the resistance of the port's septum.

Since a non-dominant hand is typically used in this process to secure the implanted port, it often becomes stuck on the rebound of the Huber needle.

Because a Huber needle is utilized for venous access, such needle-stick injury as described above presents a high risk for pathogen transmission.

However, these home-made guards are not user-friendly as the health-care workers must make the conscious choice to wear them every time an injection is made.

The health-care workers may sometimes neglect to put them on because they are either inconvenient to use, interfere with the process of administering the Huber needle or the health-care workers may just simply forget to wear them.

All of these factors contribute to negating the guards' effectiveness to protect the health-care workers against the dangers of needle-stick injuries.

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