Patent ID: 8128655

Claim:
A method for temporarily hermetically sealing an open surgical wound, the open surgical wound traversing through a skin layer and a fascia layer to expose an abdominal organ within an abdominal cavity, the open surgical wound defining a first skin side and a second skin side of the skin layer and a first fascia side and a second fascia side of the fascia layer, the partitioning of the first skin side with the second skin side and the first fascia side and the second fascia side define a wound space, the method comprising the steps of: positioning a fluid absorbing material within the wound space for absorbing a wound fluid; positioning an input lumen of a drain tube within the wound space and an output lumen of said drain tube outside of the abdominal cavity; securing an adhesive side of a flexible impermeable shield to the first skin side and the second skin side for sealing the open surgical wound; constructing a mesentery shaped couple with said flexible impermeable shield around said drain tube; compressing said adhesive side of said flexible impermeable shield against said drain tube for defining an airtight union between said drain tube and said mesentery shaped couple; and coupling a vacuum device to said output lumen of said drain tube for producing a negative pressure within the wound space.