JPH0230690B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention mainly relates to an apparatus for automatically and continuously instilling a medicinal solution into the eyes of a person with an eye disease.

In ophthalmological treatment, for example, it may be necessary to continue instilling 1 to 2 drops of a medicinal solution into a patient's eye every minute or hour.

Continuous eye drops are the continuous use of artificial tears over a long period of time for patients who experience dryness or foreign body sensation in their eyes.
As the drug solution, for example, artificial aqueous humor used in intraocular surgery is used.

However, in the past, there was no suitable device for easily and continuously instilling a medicinal solution into the eyes of people with eye diseases, and there were particular difficulties in supplying the medicinal solution, and the development of a device suitable for continuous instillation was difficult for hospitals and This was universally requested by medical professionals.

The present invention answers the above demand, and embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a continuous eye drop device.

In the figure, 1 is an automatic fluid supply device of a size that can be carried by a patient, and 2 is a flexible fluid supply pipe made of a thin Teflon tube connected to this automatic fluid supply device 1, and is connected to the automatic fluid supply device 1 through a flow divider 4. It is also connected to a liquid supply branch pipe 3 made of a thin Teflon tube or the like. Reference numeral 5 denotes a frame for eyedrop glasses, and the frame 5 has a drop beak 6 that corresponds to the inner canthus of the patient when the glasses are worn.
A buried tube made of a thin silicone rubber tube or the like is buried in the eyeglass frame 6 and communicates with this eye drop beak 6, and the end of this buried tube and the branch tube 3
are connected at the temple portion of the eyeglass frame 5.

In the above configuration, when a person with an eye disease wears eyedrop glasses and the eyedropper beak 6 is aligned with the inner canthus of the patient, the medical solution fed from the automatic liquid supply device 1 reaches the tip of the eyedropper beak and water droplets of the medicinal solution are formed. If possible, the drug solution will be sucked into the conjunctival sac by eye blinking.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the automatic liquid supply device of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes a flexible chemical liquid container built into the pressure vessel 8, which is compressed and deformed by the pressure of the pressure vessel to push out the contained chemical liquid.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a regulating valve connected to the liquid medicine container 7, which is a needle valve type that adjusts the amount of liquid medicine coming out of the liquid medicine container 7 according to the rate at which the tapered piston 10 is pushed into the tapered cylinder 11.

12 is a pressure water generator connected to the pressure vessel 8;
It consists of an outer casing 13 and an inner casing 14, and a permeable membrane 15 made of, for example, unglazed earthenware is provided on the lower side of the inner casing 14, and a piston 16 is fitted inside the inner casing 14, and the upper It is divided into a chamber and a lower chamber, the upper chamber is connected to the pressure vessel 8, and the lower chamber is communicated with the inside of the outer casing 13 via a permeable membrane 15.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a water bottle connected to the outer casing 13 of the pressure water generator 12. A piston-shaped inner lid 18 that moves up and down inside the water bottle 17 is fitted inside this water bottle 17, and an air hole 20 is provided in the upper lid 19. is drilled there.

In the above configuration, the liquid supply source pipe 2 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the regulating valve 9. The water bottle 17 is filled with water from inside the pressure vessel 8 to the upper chamber of the inner casing 14 of the pressure water generator 12 and from inside the outer casing 13 of the pressure water generator 12, and the lower chamber of the inner casing 14 is filled with sucrose. do.

In this way, in the pressure water generator 12, when water in the outer casing 13 enters the sucrose in the lower chamber of the inner casing 14 through the permeable membrane 15, the piston 16 is pushed up by this osmotic pressure, and the water enters the upper chamber of the inner casing 14. The water becomes pressure water and moves to the pressure vessel 8, and this pressure compresses and deforms the chemical liquid container 7 to push out the chemical liquid. The liquid is adjusted, passes through the flow divider 4, passes through the liquid supply branch pipe 3 and the buried pipe in the eyeglass frame 5, reaches the eyedropper beak 6, and is guided to the inner canthus of the patient.

At this time, the water in the outer casing 13 that is reduced by entering the inner lower chamber of the inner casing 14 through the permeable membrane 15 in the pressure water generator 12 is replenished from the water bottle 17.
The inner lid 18 lowers depending on the amount of water used.

Also, the actual amount of drug solution used for the patient is 5 mm.
/day, therefore, the frequency of replenishment of the medicinal solution in the medicinal solution container 7 is about once every 2 to 3 days, and at that time, the sucrose and water in the pressure water generator 12 are replaced.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an automatic liquid supply device showing another embodiment of the present invention.

In this example, the action of compressing and deforming the chemical liquid container 7 in the pressure vessel 8 by pressure water and pushing out the chemical liquid is the same as in the above example, but in this example, compressed gas is used to create the pressure water. This is what was used.

Therefore, the pressure water generator 2 connected to the pressure vessel 8
1 contains a balloon 22, this balloon 22 is connected to a cylinder 23 filled with compressed gas, and this cylinder 2
The balloon 22 is expanded by the compressed gas from the pressure vessel 8 and the pressure water generator 12 is filled with water, which is then used as pressure water.

Further, in this embodiment, the liquid supply source pipe 2 shown in FIG. By adjusting the amount of pressure water transferred between the pressure vessel 8 and the pressure water generator 21 using the regulating valve 9, the amount of the chemical liquid pushed out from the chemical liquid container 7 is adjusted.

As described above, the continuous eye drop device of the present invention uses osmotic pressure or compressed gas as a pressure source to create pressure water, guides the pressure water into a pressure container containing a flexible drug solution container, and stores the drug solution container in the pressure container. The medicine is compressed and deformed to extrude an appropriate amount of medicinal solution, which is then supplied to the eye drop beak installed in the eyeglass frame for continuous instillation into the eyes of patients with eye diseases, thereby improving the dryness, foreign body sensation, and photophobia in the eyes of patients. In addition, frequent eye drops such as antibiotics, steroids, enzyme inhibitors, etc. for severe corneal infections and chemical corrosion will bring about better results. Furthermore, since the device of the present invention is small and lightweight as a whole and can be manufactured easily and inexpensively, people with eye diseases can store it in a case and hang it from their shoulders, or fix it with a band around their waist and carry out their daily life without any problems. can be used.

It should be noted that the present invention can be applied not only to patients with eye diseases but also to other patients who need to be supplied with a medicinal solution, so its effects are extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of the continuous eye drop device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an automatic liquid supply device, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an automatic liquid supply device showing another embodiment. 1...Automatic liquid supply device, 2...Liquid supply source pipe, 3...
Liquid supply branch pipe, 4... Flow divider, 5... Glasses frame, 6...
...Eye drop beak, 7...Medicine container, 8...Pressure container, 9
...Adjustment valve, 10... Tapered piston, 11... Tapered cylinder, 12... Pressure water generator, 13... Outer casing, 14... Inner casing, 15... Permeable membrane, 16... Piston, 17... ... Water bottle, 18 ... Inner lid, 19 ...
Upper lid, 20... air hole, 21... pressure water generator,
22...Balloon, 23...Cylinder.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Pressure water generators 12 and 21 that generate pressure water using osmotic pressure or compressed gas as a pressure source, a pressure vessel 8 connected to the pressure water generator, and a flexible chemical liquid container 7 housed in the pressure vessel. and provided on the eyeglass frame 5,
A continuous eye drop characterized by comprising an eye drop beak 6 connected to the drug solution container, and a regulating valve 9 inserted between the pressure water generator and the pressure container or between the drug solution container and the eye drop beak. Device.