Ultraviolet light absorbing and transparent packaging laminate

A method for packaging a medical device which is adversely affected by a given range of wavelengths of ultraviolet light comprising the steps of:

• placing the medical device between a pair of thermoplastic sheets;
• a transparent portion of at least one of the thermoplastic sheets absorbing incident ultraviolet light at least in the given range of wavelengths;
• a remainder of the thermoplastic sheets being opaque at least to ultraviolet light in the given range of wavelengths;
• at least one of the thermoplastic sheets further having at least a portion which is permeable to ethylene oxide gas and water vapor and characterized by a residual ethylene oxide content of less than 250 ppm after sterilization;
• hermetically sealing the thermoplastic sheets around all of the medical device, the transparent portion and the permeable portion to hermetically encapsulate the medical device between a pair of thermoplastic sheets to thereby form a package with the medical device visible through the transparent portion;
• passing ethylene oxide and water vapor through the permeable portion to sterilize the medical device within the package and to sterilize the interior of the package;
• and
• subsequently removing the ethylene oxide from the interior of the package.

A medical package for a medical device which is adversely affected by a given range of wavelengths of ultraviolet light comprising:

• a pair of thermoplastic sheets at least one of which has a transparent portion which is capable of absorbing ultraviolet light at least in the given range of wavelengths and a remainder of said thermoplastic sheets is opaque at least to ultraviolet light in the given range of wavelengths;
• at least one of the thermoplastic sheets further having at least a portion which is permeable to ethylene oxide gas and water vapor;
• a medical device which is adversely affected by a given range of wavelengths of ultraviolet light between the thermoplastic sheets and visible through the transparent portion;
• a hermetic seal between the thermoplastic sheets around all of the medical device, the transparent portion and around the permeable portion to hermetically encapsulate the medical device between the pair of thermoplastic sheets to thereby form a package with the medical device visible through the transparent portion;
• the interior of the package, including the medical device, being sterile;
• at least the permeable portion of the thermoplastic sheets having a residual ethylene oxide content of less than 250 ppm.