US-12623050-B2 - Intermittent catheter

Abstract

An intermittent catheter, preferably a female intermittent catheter, is provided in an assembly. The assembly may include a cap which may be attachable to the base of the assembly in use, and/or a seal which misaligns with sealing surfaces of a chamber wall and a moveable insert in use. It may have a two-step deployment, and/or a sheath that pulls out a storage chamber. Internal and external housing may define the storage chamber. The housing may have a filling aperture and/or the storage chamber may comprise an insert configured to move axially in response to rotation.

Inventors

• Lukas Kandrac
• Marian Novak
• Aliaksandr PIASHEVICH
• Patrik LACKO

Assignees

• CONVATEC LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20220913

Priority Date

20210423

Claims (8)

1. 1 . A catheter assembly, comprising: an external housing, the external housing comprising a filling aperture and a wetting agent storage chamber, the filling aperture being in flow communication with the storage chamber, wherein the filling aperture is configured to allow the catheter assembly to be assembled prior to the storage chamber being filled with wetting agent, wherein the external housing comprises a cap and a main body, and wherein the filling aperture is provided in an external wall of the main body; a plug, wherein the filling aperture is configured to receive the plug; and an actuator having a drive surface in which a driving element is received, wherein the driving element comprises the plug.
2. 2 . The catheter assembly of claim 1 , wherein one of the driving element or drive surface is provided on one of a chamber wall of the storage chamber or a movable insert received within the chamber wall, and wherein the other of the driving element and drive surface is provided on the other of the chamber wall and movable insert, wherein the drive surface and driving element are configured such that relative rotation of the movable insert and chamber wall results in axial movement of the movable insert or chamber wall.
3. 3 . The catheter assembly of claim 2 , wherein the movable insert is provided by a catheter.
4. 4 . The catheter assembly of claim 2 , wherein the movable insert is the internal housing.
5. 5 . The catheter assembly of claim 1 , wherein the drive surface comprises at least one drive surface outlet to provide flow path between the filling aperture and storage chamber.
6. 6 . The catheter assembly of claim 5 , wherein the drive surface comprises at least one rail, wherein the rail comprises a discontinuity to provide a flow passage through the rail.
7. 7 . The catheter assembly of claim 6 , further comprising a pair of axially spaced rails, the spacing between the rails corresponding to the diameter of the driving element.
8. 8 . The catheter assembly of claim 1 , further comprising an intermittent catheter.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DISCLOSURES The present disclosure is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/GB2022/051016 filed on Apr. 22, 2022 and claims the benefit of GB Application No. 2105825.0 filed on Apr. 23, 2021, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein in entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an intermittent catheter (e.g. a urinary catheter). BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION A catheter is a medical device comprising a hollow catheter tube designed for insertion into canals, vessels, passageways or body cavities to permit injection, drainage or withdrawal of fluids or substances therefrom, or to ensure said canals, vessels, passageways etc. remain open. Urinary catheters are designed for use for insertion into a user's bladder via the urethra to drain the bladder. To maximise comfort and minimise the risk of trauma and/or infection, an outer surface of the catheter tube is typically wetted using a wetting agent prior to insertion by the user. In further developments, the catheter tube itself comprises, is integrated with or is coated with a hydrophilic component (e.g. a hydrophilic polymer) which serves to reduce friction further upon application of the wetting agent. Some catheters may be supplied pre-wetted in a packaging, for instance, where the catheter is at least partially submerged within wetting agent within the packaging. Whilst this may ensure the catheter tube is adequately wetted prior to use, such arrangements suffer in that components of the catheter other than the catheter tube such as a gripper element or funnel can also become wetted. This has a detrimental effect of the experience of the user where it may become difficult to hold and direct the catheter tube as required. This is particularly problematic where the user is performing self-catheterisation. Further, having the catheter submerged may effectively reduce the shelf-life of the catheter due to long-term exposure of components of the catheter to moisture. It is therefore seen advantageous to provide a catheter which may be wetted at or immediately prior to the point of use. In an attempt to address this, some catheters are provided in packaging which includes a rupturable container or sachet within the packaging which a user may burst to release the wetting agent. Typically, this involves the user squeezing the packaging to cause the container/sachet to break. However, such arrangements experience similar problems to those discussed above where the wetting agent is allowed to come into contact with other components of the catheter. Such arrangements also result in the possibility of the catheter tube not being fully wetted, or indeed wetted at all, prior to use. This can be harmful for the user. It is therefore advantageous to provide a catheter which includes a means of supplying a wetting agent solely to the catheter tube to improve user experience. In further prior art solutions, the catheter may be packaged within a packaging which includes a wetting device. In use, the catheter tube may be moved through the wetting device as the catheter is removed from the packaging and in doing so wetting the catheter tube. Examples of such catheters are shown in PCT application No. PCT/IB2018/001539 in the name of ConvaTec Limited. However, due to packaging constraints the amount of wetting agent able to be contained in such wetting devices is low, and there therefore remains a possibility of the catheter tube not being fully wetted in such solutions, especially where the catheter is near the end of its shelf life and some of the solution may have evaporated. For mechanisms which wet the catheter tube from the distal end, an insufficient volume of wetting agent may result in the tip end not being wetted at all which is undesirable since the tip end will be introduced into the urethra first and is hence most likely to cause injury if inadequately wetted before use. Further a minimum length of catheter is required for regulatory approval and it is desirable to ensure that the length is wetted with a minimum impact on the packaging size. It is an aim of an embodiment or embodiments of the invention to overcome or at least partially mitigate one or more problems with the prior art and/or to provide an improved intermittent catheter. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a catheter assembly according to the appended claims. An aspect of the present disclosure provides a catheter assembly comprising: an external housing comprising a main body and a cap. The main body and cap may form a sterile cavity for housing a catheter. The catheter may be configured to be removed from the external housing in use. The main body may be elongate with an open end and a closed end. The cap and the closed end of the main body may comprise corresponding mating surfaces such that the cap is mountable on the closed end of the main body. An aspect of the invention provides a cath