Flexible intraocular lens injection device and storage shuttle for implementing same

Abstract

A storage shuttle for a flexible intraocular lens injection device. The flexible intraocular lens injection device includes a tubular body having a casing and an axial cavity, a barrel arranged at a distal end of the tubular body and having an ejection cavity in communication with the axial cavity of the tubular body, and a housing in the axial cavity of the tubular body. The storage shuttle has a first position and a second position, and comprises a shuttle body having a shuttle cavity for receiving a flexible intraocular lens, an outlet opening, which is configured, in the second position of the storage shuttle, to allow for a communication between the shuttle cavity and the ejection cavity of the barrel, and an inlet opening, which is configured, in the second position of the storage shuttle, to allow for a communication between the shuttle cavity and the axial cavity of the tubular body, and wherein the shuttle body carries a second rotary attachment capable of cooperating with a first rotary attachment carried by the casing of the tubular body.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
         1 . A storage shuttle for a flexible intraocular lens injection device, the flexible intraocular lens injection comprising: a tubular body having a casing and an axial cavity; a barrel arranged at a distal end of the tubular body and having an ejection cavity in communication with the axial cavity of the tubular body; and a housing in the axial cavity of the tubular body, the storage shuttle having a first position and a second position, comprising:
 a shuttle body having a shuttle cavity for receiving a flexible intraocular lens;   an outlet opening, which is configured, in the second position of the storage shuttle, to allow for a communication between the shuttle cavity and the ejection cavity of the barrel; and   an inlet opening, which is configured, in the second position of the storage shuttle, to allow for a communication between the shuttle cavity and the axial cavity of the tubular body, and   wherein the shuttle body carries a second rotary attachment capable of cooperating with a first rotary attachment carried by the casing of the tubular body.   
     
     
         2 . The storage shuttle according to  claim 1 , wherein the shuttle body outwardly carries a second snap fastener configured to cooperate with a first snap fastener of the housing, in order to block the storage shuttle in the second position. 
     
     
         3 . The storage shuttle according to  claim 1 , further comprising gripping means to be grasped in order to actuate a rotation of the storage shuttle between the first position and the second position. 
     
     
         4 . An injection assembly comprising: a flexible intraocular lens injection device, comprising:
 a tubular body having a casing and an axial cavity, the tubular body also having a proximal end and a distal end;   a plunger inserted into said axial cavity, at the proximal end, and movable in the axial cavity along an axial direction;   a barrel arranged at said distal end of the tubular body and having an ejection cavity in communication with the axial cavity of the tubular body;   the ejection cavity having a cross-section that decreases in the opposite direction to the tubular body; and   a housing in the axial cavity of the tubular body for receiving a storage shuttle containing a flexible intraocular lens,   wherein the casing of the tubular body has a side opening, which provides access from the outside to said housing, so as to allow the insertion of the storage shuttle into the housing, and wherein the casing carries a first outwardly-protruding rotary attachment configured to cooperate with a second rotary attachment provided on the storage shuttle, so that to allow, in cooperation position of the first and the second rotary attachments, a rotation of the storage shuttle around an axis of rotation parallel to said axial direction of the axial cavity of the tubular body, between a first position of the storage shuttle where it is outside the tubular body and a second position of the storage shuttle where it is loaded in the housing, and   a storage shuttle according to  claim 1 .   
     
     
         5 . The injection assembly according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the housing has a first snap fastener, and   wherein the shuttle body outwardly carries a second snap fastener configured to cooperate with the first snap fastener, in order to block the storage shuttle in the second position.   
     
     
         6 . A sterile container comprising a storage shuttle according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         7 . The sterile container according to  claim 6 , wherein the sterile container is provided with a closeable opening. 
     
     
         8 . The sterile container according to  claim 7 , further comprising a shuttle retaining portion wherein the shuttle body is held with the inlet opening of the storage shuttle and said second rotary attachment of the storage shuttle oriented towards the closeable opening of the container, and a pushing portion for receiving the tubular body, provided with the barrel, in such a way that, in a position of pushing of said tubular body into the pushing portion, said first rotary attachment thereof cooperates with said second rotary attachment of the storage shuttle, by allowing a taking of the storage shuttle outside the sterile container. 
     
     
         9 . The sterile container according to  claim 8 , further comprising a sterile aqueous medium. 
     
     
         10 . The sterile container according to  claim 9 , wherein the shuttle retaining portion has a ribbed bottom allowing for a passage of liquid of the aqueous medium through the outlet opening of the storage shuttle as well as through the inlet opening of the storage shuttle. 
     
     
         11 . The sterile container according to  claim 8 , wherein, in said position of pushing of the tubular body in the sterile container, the barrel has no contact with the container. 
     
     
         12 . A method for loading a storage shuttle into a flexible intraocular lens injection device, comprising:
 providing a storage shuttle according to  claim 1 ;   providing a flexible intraocular lens injection device comprising
 a tubular body having a casing and an axial cavity; 
 a barrel arranged at a distal end of the tubular body and having an ejection cavity in communication with the axial cavity of the tubular body; 
 a housing in the axial cavity of the tubular body; 
   opening a sterile container containing the storage shuttle provided with a flexible intraocular lens;   inserting the tubular body of the injection device, provided with the barrel, into a pushing portion of the sterile container, with cooperation between a first rotary attachment of the tubular body and the second rotary attachment of the storage shuttle;   taking outside the sterile container of the tubular body and the storage shuttle attached to one another; and   rotating the storage shuttle between the first position outside the tubular body and the second position where it is loaded inside the housing of the tubular body through a side opening provided in the tubular body, the intraocular lens being in this second position of the storage shuttle ready to be moved and wound under a thrust of a plunger into the ejection cavity of the barrel, and then ejected outside.