Low deadspace syringe including a pivoting needle guard

Abstract

A low deadspace syringe having a pivoting protective needle guard on a fixed needle assembly that is permanently attached to the syringe.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17 / 192,481, filed Mar. 4, 2021, now allowed, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to a low deadspace syringe having a pivoting protective needle guard on a fixed needle assembly that is permanently attached to the syringe, as shown, for example, in FIG. 1.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Low deadspace (LDS) syringes with uni-body fixed needle (FN) integrally molded hubs (FIGS. 2a-2b) are widely utilized within the healthcare community most commonly for insulin or vaccination syringes where dosages are small (<1 ml) and medication is limited and expensive. Another two-piece version of a low deadspace (LDS) syringe with a fixed needle (FN) has a molded syringe barrel that is permanently fitted with a separately molded hub in manufacturing (FIGS. 3a-3b). A major benefit of these FN syringes...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This design significantly reduces medication wastage, enhances user safety by preventing needle stick injuries, and maintains a secure needle guard position, while also optimizing manufacturing and reducing environmental impact through reduced waste and improved assembly processes.

Problems solved by technology

In all these cases the technology is limited due to the plastic materials used in both the annular ring and mating syringe body.

When the plastic relaxes (which may take only hours or a couple of months) the parts no longer will have a desired tight fitment and can easily be moved or rotated relative to one another even inadvertently during activation of the needle guard.

Adding more interference by making one of the parts smaller or larger only increases the stresses which can accelerate the relaxation hence reducing the desired fit.

An additional shortcoming of this type of design occurs when assembling the needle guard to the completed syringe during manufacturing which may result in the annular ring damaging the sharp needle point when passing over the sharp needle point.

In this case, the entire syringe and needle guard would need to be discarded which is costly and adds to the waste cycle negatively impacting the environment.

As mentioned, force fitting the annular ring technology can also result in the needle guard being loosely attached to the syringe which may result in the needle guard spinning while the user is attempting to activate the needle guard.

Such movement can lead to a safety issue with potentially dire consequences if the user is accidentally pricked with the used contaminated needle during the shielding process.

Balancing of forces with this type of technology is difficult to control when attempting to have the annular ring tight enough to resist rotation when being activating but loose enough to rotate when the user wants to rotate the guard in order to orientate the guard with the bevel point of the needle for some procedures.

Needle pop-off is another serious safety issue that can be caused by interchangeable needles that have not been properly secured (having a connection force between needle hub and syringe tip greater than the activating force) to the syringe barrel tip.

Such needles may be inadvertently dislodged when a user attempts to activate a needle guard since the direction of the force to activate the needle guard is in the same direction for removal of the mounted needle from the syringe tip.

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