Sterile connector.

Abstract

Fabrication of a sterile connector for joining a supply source to an independent delivery location through a contaminated environment requires four design steps: 1) alignment of connector housings; 2) exclusion of the contaminated environment; 3) sterilization of the excluded region; and 4) penetration within the sterilized area followed by coupling of the protected internal conduits. Protective covers for connectors now in use may be modified to provide penetrable terminal barrier membranes that can be joined to exclude the environment. An adhesive containing an antimicrobiologic agent would set the stage for a controlled mechanical penetration of the decontaminated fused barriers. In another design concept, plastic barrier membranes without preliminary adhesions are simultaneously fused, sterilized, and penetrated by a nichrome wire heated to approximately 288 C. A system can be designed that is compatible, at the option of the user, with either of these methods. The more economical mechanical approach could then be used for parenteral fluid therapy while the nichrome wire technique would be reserved for more complex processing methods (frozen erythrocytes) or when storage of the resulting component is a factor.