Gas column device with a single use connector

A method for monitoring pressure within a mammalian body utilizing a single use connector system comprising a catheter, having a gas filled bladder and a catheter gas filled lumen communicating therewith, connectable to a transducer housing, having a transducer and a transducer gas filled lumen communicating therewith, the method comprising the steps of:

• inserting a catheter connector, having an air vent communicating with the ambient environment and a pierceable seal covering the air vent, mounted on a proximal end of the catheter into a mating transducer connector in the transducer housing that communicates with the pressure transducer so that the catheter connector acts as a pump piston inserted into the mating transducer connector which acts as a pump cylinder interacting together as a means to pump a quantity of gas into the bladder to fill the bladder;
• the transducer housing further comprising a piercing element that is capable of piercing the seal at some point during use of the catheter connector, so that the nature of contact between the seal and the piercing element is such that the seal is an effective pneumatic seal so as to ensure proper operation during the expected period of use the first time the connectors are joined, and so that the seal is no longer capable of occluding the vent when the two connectors are separated;
• withdrawing the connector from the housing so as to render the seal incompetent and unable to seal the catheter airway upon subsequent connections of the catheter and the transducer housing so as to render inoperative the means used to pump the quantity of gas into the bladder.