Patent ID: 8348910

Claim:
An apparatus for aspirating, irrigating and/or cleansing wounds, comprising: a fluid flow path, comprising a conformable wound dressing, having a backing layer which is capable of forming a relatively fluid-tight seal or closure over a wound, at least one inlet passageway in communication with a space under the backing layer and at least one offtake passageway in communication with the space under the backing layer; a fluid reservoir in flow communication with the inlet passageway configured to provide irrigant to the wound; means for supplying thermal energy to the fluid in the wound, means for providing simultaneous aspiration and irrigation of the wound such that irrigant may be supplied to fill the flow path from the fluid reservoir via the inlet passageway while fluid including wound exudate is aspirated by the first fluid moving device through the offtake passageway; and a regulator in communication with at least one of the inlet passageway and the offtake passageway and configured to at least regulate a rate of fluid flowing through at least one of the inlet passageway and the offtake passageway; wherein: the means for providing simultaneous aspiration and irrigation of the wound comprises a first fluid moving device applied downstream of and away from the wound dressing and is configured to apply negative pressure to the wound; and the regulator is configured to hold negative pressure on the wound at a steady level while simultaneous aspiration and irrigation is provided to the wound.