US3136316A - Catheter - Google Patents

Description

G. L. BEALL June 9, 1964 CATHETER Filed Jan. I9, 1962 @Ofgg BY y @fior/W Il u. i

United States Patent C) 3,136,316 CATHETER Glenn L. Beall, Wildwood, Avon, Ill., assgnor to Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Iliinois Filed Ian. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 167,239 1 Claim. (Cl. 12g-350) This invention relates to a catheter and in particular to a catheter which is particularly useful in peritoneal dialysis.

It is one of the prime purposes of the invention to provide a catheter which is effective in both the administration of a solution into and the drainage of the expended solution from the peritoneal cavity of a human being. Prior art catheters for this purpose have not been par- Aticularly successfully employed in peritoneal dialysis because tissue, a portion of the bowels, a portion of the omentum, and the like have prevented the flow of the solution and the expended solution through the catheter due to clogging of the one or more apertures provided in the catheter. In accordance with the invention, there are provided several means each of which serves to prevent tissue, portions ofthe bowels, omentum, y'and the like from clogging the apertures in the catheter.

It is one of the features of the invention to provide at least one and preferably a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves in a distal marginal end of a tubular body of the catheter. The aperture or apertures are preferably provided in a longitudinally extending groove to provide communication with a longitudinally extending passage formed in the tubular body. The intersection of the outer surface of the tubular body and the side walls of each groove form relatively pointed edges which prevent tissue, portions of the bowls, a portion of the omentum, and the like from clogging or blocking the aperture or apertures in each longitudinally extending groove.

It is another feature of the invention to provide one or more rows of segmental grooves in the periphery of the tubular body which provide liquid communication-y. with one or more longitudinally extending grooves. It is` therefore apparent that the solution is not only free to pass out of the apertures into the longitudinally extending grooves but also into the segmental grooves, and vice versa.

It is another feature of the invention to provide at least two rows of segmental grooves in the periphery of the tubular body, wherein the segmental grooves in one row are offset with respect to the segmental grooves in the adjacent row.

It is another feature of the invention to provide apertures in the longitudinally extending grooves, at least a portion of each of the apertures being disposed in the path of Itwo adjacent segmental peripheral grooves.

It is another feature of the invention to provide longitudinally extending grooves in the distal marginal end of the tubular body and to provide a plurality of apertures in the grooves which are as wide as the grooves.

It is `another feature of the invention to provide means formed integrally with and disposed at the proximal marginal end of the tubular body whereby the proximal marginal end of the catheter can be secured to the outer portion of the abdominal wall of the patient.

In the diagrammatic drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of peritoneal dialysis equipment employing the catheter of the invention and showing the catheter of the invention disposed in the peritoneal cavity which is shown in cross-sectional form;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view, par-tly cutaway, of the catheter of the invention;-

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the distal marginal end of the catheter;

3,136,316 Patented June 9V, 1964 ICC ' 5 5 of FIGURE 3.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the illustrative drawing, there is shown a diagrammatically represented crosssectional portion of a human body B into the peritoneal cavity C of which a catheter generally indicated at 10 is `shown to be inserted through an aperture 11 in theabdominal wall 12. A distalterminal end 13 of the catheter 10 is shown to extend into the pelvic gutter 14 of the peritoneal cavity C while a proximalmarginal end 15 of the catheter 10 is shown to be secured to theabdominal wall 12 by a suture indicated at 16.

Peritoneal dialysis equipment, forming no part of this invention, is shown to include asolution container 17 which contains asuitable solution 18. Abail 19 supports thesolution container 17 from a supportingarm 20 which is adjustably mounted by athumb screw 21 on a standard 22. Asuitable air vent 23 is shown to be provided at theoutlet end 24 of thesolution container 17. Tubing 25 leads from the outlet end 24 into a Y-tting 26. Tubing 27 leads from the Y-tting 26 to the catheter 10. Tubing 28 leads from the Y-iitting 26 into a container 29. Thetubing 25 and thetubing 28 are provided withsuitable pinch clamps 30 and 31, respectively.

Referring now to FIGURE 2 of the illustrative drawing, there is shown the catheter 10 which comprises atubular body 32. A distalmarginal endk 33 of thetubular body 32 is shown in FIGURE 5 to have four longitudinally extendinggrooves 34. Althoughfour longitudinally extendinggrooves 34 are'illustrated as being the preferred number a lesser or greater number are employable, if desired. Thegrooves 34 are shown Ito contain a plurality ofapertures 35 which extend from apassage 36 in thetubular body 32 through abottom wall 37 of eachgroove 34. Opposedapertures 35 inopposed grooves 34 are shown to be aligned. Thegrooves 34 are sufficiently narrow so that it is diicult for tissue and the liketo enter thereinto. Moreover, substantiallyparallel side walls 38 and 39 of thegrooves 34 intersect theouter surface 40 of the tubular body to form relativelypointed edges 41 and42. Pointededges 41 and 42 prevent, tissue, a portion 43 of abowl 44, andportions 45 of the omentum 46, for example, from passing into the longitudinally extendinggrooves 34. Thepointed edges 41 and 42 actually serve to support the tissue or the like at spaced points so that the obstruction will have to undergo approximately a right angle bend at each of the spacedpointed edges 41 and 42, assuming the tissue or the like is wider or longer than the distance between theside walls 38 and 39. Slnce theapertures 35 are preferably as wide as thegrooves 34 it is diicult for the tissue or the like to clog or block theapertures 35, and yet theapertures 35 because of their width provide large passages through which liquid can ow.

This distalmarginal end 33 of thetubular body 32 is also shown to be provided with a plurality of rows of adJacent opposedsegmental grooves 47, 48, 49 and 50. The number of rows of segmental grooves is, of course, dened by the number of longitudinally extendinggrooves 34.Segmental grooves 48 and 50 are disposed in a iirst plane, whilesegmental grooves 47 and 49 are disposed in a second plane which is longitudinally offset from the first plane. The offset arrangement of adjacent segmental grooves provides better administration of the solution and drainage of the expended solution. It will be readily apparent that as the solution passes from thepassage 36 through theapertures 35 directly into thegrooves 34 and directly intosegmental grooves 47, 48, 49 and 50 and vice versa, effective administration of the solution and drainage of the expended solution is accomtrative drawing, at least a portion of each of the apertures is disposed in the path of two adjacent opposed segmental grooves. The terminaldistal end 13 of the tubular body 32l provides easy communication with the liquids `in the pelvic gutter 14 since the longitudinally extending grooves '34 are open at their ends.

` Thepassage 36 at the distalmarginal end 33 of thetubular body 32 isa generally square cross-sectional passage portion as indicated at 36a, .while the remainder of the passage.36 is atgenerally circular cross-sectional passage portion as indicated at 36h. Thepassage portions 36a and 36h are formed during the molding operation by a longitudinal core pin (not shown) of the same crosssectional congurations. Theapertures 35 in the distal .marginal end 33 of thetubular body 32 are formed by transverser core pins (not shown) which extend into the mold cavity (not shown) and abut against the longitudinal core pin which forms theportions 36a and 36h.

A Luer taper 52 is shown to be formed internally of the'tubularbody 32, however, a Luer taper or its equivalent might be formed externally, if desired.

The proximalmarginal end 15 of thetubular body 32 Visshown to be provided with a plurality of outwardly extendingprojections 54 which are shown to take the form of spacedannular rings 55. Theprojections 54 enable the yproximalmarginal end 15 of the tubular body 32 'to be Vshown to take the form ofannular rings 55, theprojections 54 are of a character that they can be constructed as lugs or the like. Alternatively, one or more grooves (not shown) can be provided in the proximal marginal end '1'5 of thetubular body 32 for this purpose, if desired.

In accomplishing peritoneal dialysis, the patient is placed in the s upine position and an incision is made through the abdominal wall. A trocar (not shown) is employed to penetrate the peritoneum. After the catheter has been inserted through the trocar into the peritoneal cavity C, the trocar is removed and the catheter remains in place. The catheter 10 is then sutured to the 'abdominal Wall 12. Thepinch clamp 30 is then moved to a position in which thesolution 18 can pass through Athetubing 25, through the Y-tting 26, through thetubing 27,"through the catheter 10, and into the peritoneal cavity C of the patient. After the administration of thesolution 18 is completed, thepinch clamp 31 is moved to a position in which the expended solution can be siphoned from the peritoneal cavity C of the patient through thecatheter 19, through thetubing 27, through the Y-tting 26, through thetubing 28, and into the container 29. More solution can be administered to the patient from other solution bottles (not shown) if the peritoneal dialysis is to be repeated.

The one-piece catheter 10 is preferably composed of polyethylene but any suitable moldable material having a sucient flexibility and suitability for the purposes herein-described is employable without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The above-described embodiment being exemplary only, it will bevunderstood that modifications in form or detail can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not 'to be considered as limited save as is consonant with thescope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A catheter comprising a tubular body having a longitudinally extending passage therein, a distal marginal end of said tubular lbody having at least two longitudinally extending grooves, at least one aperture providing communication between said passage and each of said longitudinal grooves, and at lcast two longitudinally extendingrows of a plurality of segmental grooves on the periphery of said tubular body which provide liquid communication with `said longitudinally extending grooves, said grooves of said one row being longitudinally oiset from said grooves of said other row.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 204,905 Y Lockwood June 18, 1878 1,045,326 Ruflin Nov. 26, 1912 1,642,819Long Sept` 20, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS 88,138 Germany Aug. 21, 1896 375,855 France July 25, 1907 379,135 Germany Aug. 16, 1923 408,449 Germany Oct. 10, 1923 458,201 Germany June 11, 1925 462,423 France Ian. 27, 1914 1,103,165 France May 1S, 1955

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