Patent ID: 6312645
Filing Date: 2001-11-06
Classification: A61B,A61L

Abstract:
A method for cleaning or sterilizing a device having a lumen with at least two open ends and an inner surface and outer surface, said method comprising the acts of:a) providing a container possessing two or more openings, and a flexible pouch that surrounds said container;b) placing said device into said container;c) applying a negative pressure differential to said container and pouch, thereby causing said pouch to collapse around said container and form at least one interface separating said container into two or more compartments, which interface is formed under negative pressure differential by the adherence, through said openings in said container, of said pouch onto itself and onto at least one part of a surface of said device, such that one open end of said device is located in one of said compartments and another open end is in another of said compartments; andd) generating a flow of a sanitizing solution through said lumen to clean or sterilize the inner surface of said device.