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EP-4285819-B1 - APPLICATOR FOR CONTINUOUS BLOOD GLUCOSE MEASUREMENT DEVICE

EP4285819B1EP 4285819 B1EP4285819 B1EP 4285819B1EP-4285819-B1

Inventors

  • CHAE, Kyung Chul
  • CHOI, HYUN HO
  • RYU, Goang Yel
  • WANG, Ji Hoon

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20211109

Claims (9)

  1. An applicator (10) for a continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus to operate to attach a body attachable unit (20) having a sensor unit (21) inserted into a body (B) of a user for measuring blood glucose, the applicator comprising: a main case (100); a plunger (300) separatably coupled to the body attachable unit (20), and installed to be movable from a first location to a second location inside the main case (100) to discharge the body attachable unit (20) in a direction of an outside of the main case (100); a needle (30) separatably coupled to the body attachable unit (20) to be inserted into the body (B) of the user together with the sensor unit (21); and a needle separation unit (400) configured to move the needle (30) in a direction opposite to a discharged direction of the plunger (300) to separate the needle (30) from the body (B) of the user, wherein the needle separation unit (400) comprises: a support column (410) having a locking part (419), the locking part (419) is configured to be assembled to the plunger (300) in a way in which the locking part (419) engages with one side of the plunger (300), a needle holder (422) movably coupled to the support column (410) to be coupled to one end of the needle (30), and a needle separation spring (435) configured to apply an elastic force to the needle holder (422) in a direction of separating the needle (30) from the body (B) of the user, and wherein the support column (410) is configured to be assembled to the plunger (300) by forming an assembly together with the needle holder (422) and the needle separation spring (435).
  2. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support column (410) comprises a body portion (411) to which the needle holder (422) and the needle separation spring (435) are coupled, and wherein the locking part (419) is provided at one end of the body portion (411).
  3. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the locking part (419) is elastically and deformably connected to the body portion (411).
  4. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plunger (300) comprises a fixing part (330) configured to be engageable with the locking part (419), and one of the locking part (419) and the fixing part (330) has a coupling groove (420), and a remaining one of the locking part (419) and the fixing part (330) has a fixing protrusion (331) configured to be insertable into the coupling groove (420).
  5. The applicator for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, a support column hook (417) to which one end of the needle separation spring (435) is connected is provided inside the support column (410), the needle holder (422) comprises a needle holder hook (433) to which another end of the needle separation spring (435) is connected, and the needle separation spring (435) is configured to apply the elastic force to the needle holder (422) so that the needle holder (422) is pulled toward the support column hook (417).
  6. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the needle holder (422) comprises a holder head (423) to which one end of the needle (30) is coupled, a holder wing (426) comprising a wing body elastically and deformably connected to the holder head (423) and a stopper (431) protruding from the wing body, the support column (410) comprises a snagging protuberance (415) with which the stopper (431) is engageable, and a pressing portion (125) configured to elastically deform the holder wing (426) such that the stopper (431) is disengaged from the snagging protuberance (415) is provided inside the main case (100).
  7. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the holder wing (426) protrudes from the wing body and includes a trigger (428) in which a protruded height from the wing body is greater than a height of the stopper (431) protruded from the wing body, the support column (410) comprises a slit (413) formed in a longitudinal direction of the support column (410) to allow the trigger (428) to be inserted, and the pressing portion (125) is arranged on a movement path of the needle holder (422) to elastically deform the holder wing (426) by pressing the trigger (428) while the plunger (300) moves from the first location to the second location.
  8. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the needle separation unit (400) is configured to be assembled to the plunger (300) in an elastically deformed state such that the needle separation spring (435) applies the elastic force to the needle holder (422).
  9. The applicator (10) for the continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the needle separation unit (400) is configured to be assembled to the plunger (300) in a state in which the needle separation spring (435) is not elastically deformed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to an applicator for a continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus, and, more specifically, relates to an applicator for a continuous blood glucose measurement apparatus for attaching a body attachable unit attached to a user's body to measure blood glucose and transmit measurement information to an outside. BACKGROUND Diabetes is a chronic medical condition that is common in modern people. Diabetes is caused by an absolute increase of the sugar level in the blood by failing to correct the balance of sugar in the blood, which is cause by absolute deficiency or relative insufficiency of insulin, produced by the pancreas, due to various reasons such as obesity, stress, poor eating habits, and inherited hereditary factors. The blood usually contains a certain concentration of glucose, and tissue cells gain energy from the glucose. However, when the glucose is increased excessively more than needed, the glucose cannot be properly stored in the liver, muscle, or adipose tissue and is accumulated in the blood, because of this, patients with diabetes maintain a much higher blood glucose level than normal people. As excessive blood glucose passes through the tissues and is discharged into the urine, it results in deficiency of glucose, which is absolutely necessary for all tissues of the body, thereby causing abnormalities in respective body tissues. Diabetes is characterized by absence of subjective symptoms at the beginning of the condition, when diabetes progresses, diabetes-specific symptoms such as overdrink, overeat, polyuria, weight loss, weariness, skin itchiness, and lower ability of naturally healing on injury on hands and feet are shown. Further progression of diabetes leads to complications such as visual disturbances, hypertension, kidney disease, paralysis, periodontal disease, muscle spasms and neuralgia, as well as gangrene. In order to diagnose diabetes beforehand and manage to prevent the progression of diabetes into complications associated therewith, systematic blood glucose measurement and treatment should be performed. For diabetes patients as well as people having higher than normal blood glucose, even though diabetes has not yet developed, medical device manufacturers offer a variety of blood glucose meters to measure blood glucose levels. Glucose measuring devices may be categorized into a single time measurement type measuring a blood glucose level and collecting blood from a fingertip by a user every single time and a continuous measurement type attaching a glucose monitoring system to the belly or an arm of the user and continuously measuring blood glucose levels. Diabetics patients generally experience hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, an emergency may occur in the hypoglycemic conditions, and the patients may become unconscious or die if a hypoglycemic condition lasts for an extended period of time without the supply of sugar. Accordingly, although rapid discovery of the hypoglycemic condition is critically important for diabetics, blood-collecting type glucose monitoring devices intermittently measuring glucose have limited ability to accurately detect it. Recently, to overcome such a drawback, continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMSs) inserted into the human body to measure a blood glucose level every few minutes have been developed. To minimize such pain and aversion caused by blood collection, a continuous glucose monitoring systems can continuously measure glucose levels by inserting a needle-shaped sensor into a portion of the human body, such as the belly or an arm, which is less pain sensitive. A continuous glucose monitoring system includes a sensor module inserted and attached to the skin of the human body and measuring a blood glucose level by extracting body fluid, a transmitter transmitting the blood glucose level measured by the sensor module to a terminal, the terminal outputting the received blood glucose level, and any other appropriate component. The sensor module includes a needle-shaped sensor probe for insertion into subcutaneous fat to extract interstitial fluid and any other appropriate component. A separate applicator for attaching the sensor module to the body is used. Those continuous glucose monitoring systems are manufactured to have a wide variety of types depending on their manufacturers, and are used in a variety of methods. However, most of the continuous glucose monitoring systems are manufactured and distributed as a type that a one-time use sensor module is attached to the human body using an applicator. The user must perform several steps for the operation of the applicator for attaching a one-time use sensor module to the body, and after attaching the sensor module to the body, various subsequent procedures, such as pulling out the needle by the user himself or herself, need to be performed. For example, the single-use sensor module must be unpacked and inserted accurately in the applicator, and in