Abstract:
A medical connector for connecting medical tubing to a catheter includes a connector body and a height compensating foot. The connector body has a catheter leg adapted to connect to the catheter, a medical tubing leg adapted to connect to the medical tubing, and an angular bend intermediate the legs. The height compensating foot is attached to the catheter leg and extends outwardly therefrom at an angle to prevent the connector from rocking and tubing from overhanging a patient&#39;s knuckles when connected to the catheter inserted in a patient.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   This invention relates to medical connectors and more specifically to an angled medical connector that compensates for the difference in height between a catheter lumen and an associated connector disposed on a patient. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   In the medical and surgical fields, intravenous (IV) fluids are generally administered to a patient through a catheter inserted into a vein of the patient. The catheter is typically coupled to an IV connector, which is connected by IV tubing to a container of IV fluid. 
   Generally the catheter includes an insertion end and a connecting end configured as a female fitting having a diameter substantially larger than the catheter itself. A cooperating connector has a male fitting portion adapted to mate with the female fitting. The female and male fittings are commonly configured as luer lock type fittings. As luer fittings, the male portion of the IV connector has a precise tapered outer surface, and the catheter&#39;s aperture has a similarly tapered female bore. When assembled, the tapered male and female surfaces engage in a slip type interference fit to frictionally fit the catheter and connector together. A fastening means is provided to lock the catheter and connector together. 
   By design, the threaded collar or female catheter has a larger outside diameter than the male connector, catheter and associated medical tubing connected thereby to the catheter. Problematically however, the relatively larger diameter of the connector portion causes the assembled catheter and connector to teeter, or rock, back and forth about the centerline of the connector. This teetering effect can cause patient discomfort, and some loosening of dressings holding the catheter in place, when the catheter is inserted in a patient. 
   Additionally, this teetering or rocking about the connector can cause in-and-out movement of the catheter tip causing vessel wall damage, or even full infiltration of the catheter tip through the vessel wall. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides an angled medical connector for connecting medical tubing to a catheter. The connector includes a connector body and a height compensating foot mounted thereon. The height compensating foot compensates for the larger diameter of the catheter connector and prevents rocking of the connector when connected to a catheter inserted in a patient. 
   Further, the angled medical connector of the present invention overcomes deficiencies of conventional fittings and tubing. When an IV catheter is inserted on the back of the hand, conventional fittings and tubing connected to the catheter hang over the knuckles of the hand. It is common that the fittings/tubing may overhang between a half inch and one and a half inches. This configuration has a high risk of catheter dislodgement, blood vessel damage, dressing rip up, etc. due to snagging or pulling on the overhanging fittings/tubing. The present angled connector reduces the risk of these occurrences by routing the fittings and tubing away from the knuckles on a hand, preventing knuckle overhang. The present invention also eliminates the need to use rigidizing arm boards and the like. 
   In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention a medical connector includes a connector body and a height compensating foot. The connector body has an elongated hollow catheter leg having a first end portion adapted to detachably connect to a catheter. A first axis extends centrally through the hollow portion of the catheter leg. The connector body also has an elongated hollow medical tubing leg having a second end portion adapted to connect to medical tubing. A second axis extends centrally through the hollow portion of the medical tubing leg. The connector body further includes an angular bend intermediate the catheter leg and medical tubing leg wherein the first and second axes intersect. The height compensating foot is attached to the medical tubing leg and extends outwardly therefrom at an angle to prevent rocking about the first and second axis when connected to the catheter inserted in a patient. 
   In another exemplary embodiment of the medical connector, the height compensating foot is rotatable about the second axis to provide a plurality of mounting dispositions. 
   In an alternative embodiment the medical tubing leg of the connector has an annular portion with a recessed outer surface adjacent the second end portion. The height compensating foot has a hollow circular collar sized to rotatably fit around the outer surface of the annular portion. Additionally the height compensating foot has a foot support member projecting from the collar to form an acute angle relative to the second axis. The foot support member is bounded by first and second edges. Herein, the catheter leg abuts against the first edge when the medical connector is in a first mounting position. Alternatively, the catheter leg abuts against the second edge when the medical connector is in a second mounting position. 
   These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings: 
       FIG. 1  is an environmental perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of an angled medical connector connecting IV tubing to a catheter on a patient in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the connector body of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a side cross sectional view of the connector body of  FIG. 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the height compensating foot of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a side cross sectional view of the height compensating foot of  FIG. 4  taken along the line  5 - 5 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a front view of the medical connector of  FIG. 1  in a first mounting position; 
       FIG. 7  is an exploded perspective view of the medical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of an angled medical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a height compensating foot in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 10  is a side cross sectional view of an another alternative embodiment of a height compensating foot in accordance with the present invention; and 
       FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a connector body corresponding to the height compensating foot of  FIG. 10 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring now to  FIG. 1 , numeral  10  generally indicates an exemplary embodiment of an angled medical connector in accordance with the present invention. Medical connector  10  is shown connecting IV tubing  12  to catheter  14 , which is inserted into a patient. 
   The IV tubing  12  is typically connected to a container of IV fluid, which is generally positioned to allow the IV fluid to be fed through the tubing  12 , connector  10  and catheter  14  into the patient. Although IV tubing is illustrated herein, one skilled in the art will recognize that the connector  10  may be utilized with other types of medical tubing, such as surgical drainage tubes, feeding tubes, or the like. 
   The catheter  14  is hollow and includes a hub  16  and a sheath  18  fluidly connected to the front end of the hub  16 . The sheath  18  of the catheter  14  is typically inserted as is known into a vein of the patient and used to administer IV fluids or the like. The interior surface  20  of the hub  16  has a conical shape, which is precisely tapered outwardly toward aperture  22  formed in the rear end of the hub. The aperture  22  and interior surface  20  of the hub  16  form a female luer type fitting adapted to mate with the connector  10 . 
   Connector  10  includes a generally right angled connector body  26 , though the connector body  26  may be angled at an angle greater or smaller than 90 degrees. A height compensating foot  28  is mounted on one leg of the connector body  26 . The height compensating foot  28  may be rotatably mounted on the connector body  26 , or alternatively may be snap fittable on the connector body or even integral with the connector body. As will be explained in greater detail hereinafter, the height compensating foot  28  advantageously serves to compensate for the larger diameter of the catheter hub  16 , or threaded collar  27  for mating with the catheter hub  16 , and prevents the connector body  26  from a rocking or teetering effect when connected to catheter hub  16 . Additionally, the height compensating foot  28  supports the connector body  26  at an incline that is optimally comfortable to a patient when connected to hub  16 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the connector body  26  has an elongated hollow catheter leg  30  and an elongated hollow medical tubing leg  32  integrally connected to a right angular bend  34  intermediate the legs  30 ,  32 . A first axis  36  and a second axis  38  extend centrally through the hollow portions of the catheter leg  30  and the medical tubing leg  32  respectively to intersect within the angular bend  34 . 
   The catheter leg  30  includes a first end portion  40  adapted to detachably connect to the catheter  14 . The first end portion  40  may be configured as a male luer type fitting. The male luer fitting of the connector body  26  is sized to mate with the female luer fitting of the catheter hub  16  to form a fluid tight friction seal therebetween. Though this embodiment describes connector body  26  as having a male lure type fitting, it is within the scope of this invention to utilize other configurations to connect to the catheter hub  16 . 
   Medical tubing leg  32  includes a second end portion  42  adapted to connect to the medical tubing  12 , which may be a solvent wipe taper allowing for solvent wiping to prevent solvent etching. An annular portion  44  is formed in the outer surface of the medical tubing leg  32  adjacent the second end portion  42 . The annular portion  44  has a surface that is sized to rotatably receive and capture the height compensating foot  28 . The surface may be recessed, or may be raised on one or both sides, to capture the foot  28 . The medical tubing leg  32  may also include a friction bump  45  adapted to contact the height compensating foot  28  for restraining movement of the height compensating foot about the medical tubing leg. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the height compensating foot  28  may include a hollow circular collar  46  sized to rotatably fit around annular portion  44  to secure the height compensating foot  28  therein. The height compensating foot  28  may alternatively be a split collar or other similarly suitable collar design. Further, the height compensating foot  28  may engage the medical tubing leg  32  anywhere between the angular bend  34  and the second end portion  42 . A foot support member  48  projects from the collar  46  to form an acute angle  50  relative to the second axis  38 . The foot support member  48  may project in the direction of the angular bend  34 . The support member  48  has an inner surface  52 , which is bounded by a rounded distal end  54  and first and second edges  56  and  58 . 
   Alternatively, in a separate embodiment shown in  FIG. 8 , the foot support member  148  may project in the direction of the second end portion  142 . 
   Turning to  FIGS. 10 and 11 , in yet another embodiment, a height compensating foot  328  and medical tubing leg  332  of a connector body  326  in accordance with the present invention may include a detent arrangement for indexing the foot  328  in positions about the medical tubing leg  332 . For example, the height compensating foot  328  may include a raised portion  366 , such as a ball, on an inner surface  347  of the collar  346 . The medical tubing leg  332  may then include a plurality of recesses  368  on an annular portion  344  thereof. The raised portion  366  and recesses  368  cooperate to form the detent arrangement. It should be understood, however, that the detent arrangement could be reversed. In other words, the foot  328  could include the recesses and the medical tubing leg  332  could include the ball. 
   Referring now to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , during operation the medical connector  10  is inserted into the larger diameter catheter  14  to deliver IV fluid to a patient or alternatively to drain fluid from the patient. The connector body  26  and height compensating foot  28  may be positioned in either one of a first mounting position (as illustrated in  FIG. 1 ) or a second mounting position (as illustrated in  FIG. 7 ), or in any position therebetween. With the height compensating foot  28  so positioned, the foot support member  48  of height compensating foot  28  may rest on a support surface such as a surface of the patient, best seen in  FIG. 1 , to support the medical tubing leg  32  and angular bend  34  of the connector body  26  off of patient skin surface  60 . This prevents the assembled catheter  14  and connector  10  from teetering or rocking back and forth about the second axis  38 , which extends through the medical tubing leg  32 . Additionally, the medical tubing leg  32 , extending at a right angle to the catheter leg  30 , prevents rocking about the first axis  36 , which passes through the catheter leg  30 . In other words, when connected in or between the first and second mounting positions, connector  10  will not rock or teeter about either of the first or second axes  36 ,  38  thereby preventing discomfort and in-and-out catheter tip movement which causes vessel wall damage. 
   Moreover, the height compensating foot  28  raises the angular bend  34  of the connector body  26  to position the catheter leg  30  at an angle of incline  62  of approximately between 5-30 degrees relative to the patient surface  60  or other support surface. The angle of incline  62  prevents the sheath  18  of the catheter  14  from being tilted upwards against the vein into which it is inserted, thus further relieving discomfort and stress to the patient. 
   Turning to  FIG. 9 , in an alternative embodiment, a height compensating foot  228  in accordance with the present invention may include a slot  264  in a collar  246  of the foot  228  such that collar is a split collar. This allows the height compensating foot  228  to be snap fittable onto a leg of a connector body of the present invention. 
   Although the invention has been described by reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood that numerous changes may be made within the spirit and scope of the inventive concepts described. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the described embodiments, but that it have the full scope defined by the language of the following claims.