Contoured cooling pack

A hot or cold pack with a main body portion and four radially extending portions attached thereto and integral therewith. The radially extending portions may have a width greater at their periphery than at the joining to the main body portion. The hot or cold pack is particularly useful for application to a curved contour such as breast, knee, ankle, shoulder or other body area to relieve post operative or post trauma pain and inflammation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Ice packs have been widely used in the medical field for the therapeutic 
treatment of swelling and inflammation and for the reduction of pain 
resulting from traumatic injuries or surgery. Cooling the traumatized area 
reduces the sensitivity of the nerve endings and also lessens swelling 
caused by cellular fluid expulsion. Cooling also constricts capillary 
vessels to reduce internal bleeding. Ice packs are particularly useful for 
causing this cooling because they can be applied locally without 
significant effect on the rest of the body, and they are also relatively 
convenient and inexpensive. 
Many of the developments in ice packs have related to the means for 
attaching the ice pack to the body. U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,848 by Hubbard is 
a generally rectangular envelope having an open end and a pair of tie 
strings on each end which can be tied to one another or to a part of the 
body. The overall configuration of the rectangular envelope and the 
attaching tie strings lends itself to attachment to a limb of the body, 
but not to other portions of the body. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,003 
by Meistrell is an elongated element with extended legs which wrap around 
on itself and adhere with Velcro brand hook and loop fastener or other 
adhesive means. Again, this is usable for application to a limb primarily. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,972 by Finch carries the velcro idea even further; 
Velcro brand hook and loop fastener, magnetic or other adhesive means are 
adhered to the body and they, in turn, releasably attach to the ice pack. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,498 by Kosak includes rectangularly shaped panels 
sealed around the periphery to form an envelope with Velcro brand hook and 
loop fastener or other attachment means that allow the envelope to wrap 
around a limb and seal on itself. 
Other patents are directed toward the shape of the cold pack, as 
distinguished from the means for attachment to the body. U.S. Pat. No. 
4,240,436 by Singleton relates to a specially contoured ice pack for 
application to the perineal region. U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,761 by Baker 
relates to a specially designed harness for application of ice to the head 
region. U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,381 by Roslonski relates to an inflatable 
compress which is designed to assume the shape of the body portion to 
which it is attached, and the claims of that patent mention that the 
compress may be a wrap-around bandage, an inflatable sleeve, an inflatable 
mitten or an inflatable boot. 
Because many of the traumatic injuries to which ice packs are applied are 
in the limbs of the patient, most of the advances in ice packs have been 
directed toward ice packs which attach to a straight limb. Therefore, the 
ice packs are typically an elongated void, such as a rectangular envelope, 
with strings, velcro or other attachment means located on each end. In 
this way, the ice pack wraps around the limb and attaches to itself. Very 
little of the prior art is related to ice bags used on the body rather 
than on a straight limb. 
The use of an ice pack on the body poses special problems. The problems are 
primarily that the external body configuration is such that ordinary ice 
bags do not conform well to the body contours, and the body is too large 
to allow normal ice bags to be wrapped completely around and attached to 
themselves. Both these problems are particularly acute with respect to, 
for example, the application of an ice bag to a female breast to relieve 
post operative pain and inflammation as occurs following breast surgery or 
to reduce the flow of milk following delivery. For these applications, a 
uniquely configured ice pack is required to conform to the body contour. 
Preferably, the unique configuration will conform to a variety of 
different possible body contours so that the same one can be used in a 
variety of applications. Also, preferably, the unique configuration would 
be usable on limbs, shoulders, ankles and other body areas in the manner 
of the ice packs described above. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is contoured to conform to a body contour, and also 
to conform to the contour of most limbs even if the limb is bent. The 
configuration is of a size and shape to allow a variety of means for 
attachment of the ice pack to both the body and limbs. 
Further, the ice pack is of a multiple-ply to ensure water tightness, 
moisture absorption and a soft and comfortable exterior surface for 
application to the skin. 
The ice pack comprises a central portion and radially extending members. 
One of the radially extending members has a resealable opening to receive 
ice, hot water or other similar thermal material. One or more of the 
radially extending members is wider at the end than at the portion where 
it joins the central portion of the ice pack, to allow complete body 
surface coverage without overlapping as the radially extended member is 
folded with respect to the main body portion. 
The inner waterproof ply of the ice pack is a polyethylene or other 
waterproof plastic material of a suitable thickness. An intermediate ply 
is a nonwoven moisture absorbing material to draw and absorb any leakage 
from the ice pack and any sweat or bodily fluids. An exterior ply is a 
polyester flannel which forms a soft and comfortable layer to contact the 
patient's skin.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows a top plan view of the present invention 10, showing the 
general configuration of the preferred embodiment. The invention 10 has a 
central portion 12, and four radially extending portions, 14, 16, 18 and 
20. The relative arrangements of the central body portion and the four 
radially extending portions forms a cross-shaped ice pack. One of the 
radially extending members has an opening 15 at the end to allow the 
introduction of ice, hot water or other desired thermal material. In the 
embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the opening 15 is in the top member----element 
14----so that leakage through the opening is lessened, but the opening 15 
could instead be in any of the other radially extending members, 16, 18 or 
20. The opening 15 is opened and resealed with suitable closure means such 
as the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,353 by Hubbard or a zipper 
arrangement. 
The ice pack of the present invention has three plys as shown in FIG. 2. 
The innermost ply is a polyethylene sheet 70. It is about 2 or 3 
millimeters thick to contain the liquid introduced into the ice pack 
through the open end. Other suitable moisture proof material for this 
inner sheet would be apparent to persons skilled in the art. 
An intermediate layer 72 outside of the polyethylene moisture proof layer 
is designed to draw moisture away from both the ice pack (due to 
condensation on or slight leakage from the ice pack) and from the body in 
the form of sweat or bodily fluids. Preferably, this intermediate layer 72 
has high moisture absorbing properties, yet is still thin and relatively 
nonthermally insulated to allow thermal transmission between the body and 
ice pack. The material with the brand name "Novonett" by Veratec Company 
has been found to be suitable for this purpose. 
Finally, an exterior layer 74 surrounds the entire ice pack and contacts 
the skin. This exterior layer 74 should be soft and comfortable against 
the skin, should be relatively non-thermally insulated, and, preferably, 
should be a that is adhesive to whatever material that adhesive means is 
used to apply the ice pack to the body. In some applications this may be 
Velcro brand hook and loop fastener, and in those applications the 
exterior layer 74 should be a Velcro brand hook and loop fastener adhesive 
surface. It has been found that a relatively thin polyester flannel is 
suitable for this purpose. Of course, the exterior layer may be dyed any 
color desired for medical aesthetic or recognition. The two layers of each 
side of the ice pack are sealed together around the ice pack periphery. 
The border 22 of the ice pack 10 is sealed. The seal 22 bonds the three 
layers of each side and bonds each side to the other side as shown in FIG. 
1. This seal may be accomplished with a heat welder, ultrasonic means, an 
adhesive or other suitable methods. 
The radially extended members may be narrower at the point where they join 
the main body member, and wider around the periphery, as shown for members 
16, 18 and 20 in FIG. 1. The widening of the radially extending members 
toward the periphery allows the ice pack to substantially cover all the 
contoured surface with a minimum of overlap and a minimum of gaping 
between the radially extended members as they are folded along the 
contours. In addition, one of the radially extending members should be 
longer than the radially extending member on the opposite side of the ice 
pack. In FIG. 1, the extra long radially extending member is radially 
extending member 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the purpose of this extra long 
radially extending member 20 is to extend under the arm on the side of the 
breast to which the ice pack is applied in order to reduce post operative 
inflammation and pain that is typical at that site following breast 
surgery. 
FIG. 3 shows the application of the ice pack to a breast 40 to reduce 
post-operative pain and inflammation following breast surgery. The 
radially extending member 14 with the resealable open end 15 is located on 
the upper portion of the breast 40 above the remainder of the ice pack 10. 
This reduces the fluid pressure on the resealable opening 15 and 
consequently helps minimize leakage from that opening 15. The radially 
extending member 14 with the end opening 15 is then draped down the 
breast, along with the main body portion 12 and the opposite radially 
extending portion 18. The draping of those three elements--the radially 
extending member 14 with the end opening 15, the main body portion 12 and 
the opposite radially extending portion 18, form a cup shaped contour to 
receive the breast and allow continuous and uniform application of the ice 
pack. The other two radially extending members, 16 and 20, fold against 
either side of the breast 40. The extra long radially extending member 20 
folds far enough along the side of the breast 42 to extend underneath the 
patient's arm 42. 
FIG. 4 shows the application of the ice pack 10 to a knee 44 to reduce 
post-operative pain and inflammation following knee surgery or injury. The 
radially extending member 14 with the end opening 15 is, again, generally 
located at a position higher then the rest of the ice pack 10, in order to 
minimize fluid pressure and possible leaking from the end opening seal 17. 
That radially extending member 14 is draped along the upper contour of the 
location to which the ice pack is applied, and the main body portion 12 
and radially extending portion 18 opposite the radially extending portion 
14 with the end opening 15 is draped along the bottom 46 of the knee joint 
conforming to the contour thereof. The two side radially extending members 
18 and 20 fold along the sides of the knee 44 to substantially cover the 
knee joint without undue overlapping of the radially extending members or 
gaps there between.