Patent ID: 11857321
Assignee: MAGNOLIA MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 10:
11. An apparatus for procuring bodily fluid samples with reduced contamination, the apparatus comprising:
a housing forming a sequestration chamber, the housing having an inlet configured to be fluidically coupled to a bodily fluid source and an outlet configured to be fluidically coupled to a fluid collection device;
an actuator coupled to the housing, the actuator having a first configuration in which the inlet is in fluid communication with the sequestration chamber, and a second configuration in which the inlet is in fluid communication with the outlet and fluidically isolated from the sequestration chamber; and
a flow controller disposed in the sequestration chamber, the flow controller having a first state in which a first side of the flow controller is in contact with at least a portion of a first surface of the sequestration chamber and a second state in which a second side of the flow controller is in contact with at least a portion of a second surface of the sequestration chamber, the second surface being opposite the first surface,
the flow controller transitioning from the first state to the second state, as a result of the suction force being exerted on the second side of the flow controller by the fluid collection device to draw an initial volume of bodily fluid into a portion of the sequestration chamber defined between the first surface and the first side of the flow controller,
the actuator configured to be transitioned to the second configuration after the initial volume of bodily fluid is drawn into the portion of the sequestration chamber to (1) sequester the sequestration chamber from the inlet, and (2) fluidically couple a portion of the first fluid flow path to a portion of the second fluid flow path to allow a subsequent volume of bodily fluid to flow from the inlet to the outlet in response to the suction force.