MEDICAL ARTICLES STERILIZATION METHOD AND DEVICE

A medical article sterilization device has a pretreatment area for medical articles, a device to form a housing in a first web, an article loading station, an alignment device and a sterilization-sealing station. A heat source at the pretreatment area heats the medical articles. At the article loading station a medical article heated in the pretreatment area is loaded into the housing in the first web. The alignment device aligns a second web with the first web. At the sterilization-sealing station the first web and t he second web, with the medical article loaded into the housing, are sterilized and then, the first and second webs are sealed together. Gas injection pins may be provided at the sterilization-sealing station to inject gas into the housing, between the first and second webs. The sterilization-sealing statio n may have a steam source to inject steam into the housing, between the first and second webs.