Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention is related to surgical drapes, more particularly, to a drape used during irrigation of a surgical wound or trauma.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    It is common practice to irrigate wounds and other contusions to the body. Usually, the procedure is used to cleanse the opening and allows a visual assessment of the damage. Also, the irrigation may include an application of medicaments, such as disinfectants, antibiotics, and so forth. In some situations it is necessary to use copious amounts of liquids because of blood flow or contaminants in the wound or both. The effluvia must be maintained in a sanitary manner and disposed of in such a way as to prevent contamination of the surgical area.  
           [0003]    Surgical drapes are used for a variety of purposes including absorption of effluvia and covering the adjacent areas of the patient&#39;s body to prevent spreading of the liquids. Because of the amount of irrigation required in some instances, the drapes are not sufficient to control the spread of the contaminants.  
           [0004]    In situations where a pulsed lavage is used to clean and debride a wound, there is significant splatter and atomization of the contaminated liquid. To contain the air born particles, the drape must have a three-dimensional structure.  
           [0005]    Description of the Prior Art  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,998 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,209 disclose a wound treatment apparatus which has a flexible transparent envelope surrounding the wound site. The envelope has an aperture for lavage and an open bottom to place into a lavage basin. The irrigation takes place inside a closed space. However, the introduction of pulsed lavage into the container causes the loss of visibility through the envelope because of water droplets and fog on the inner surface. Additionally, the plastic enclosure is fixed about the extremity and is not easily removed during the surgical procedure. This is extremely important to allow a surgeon access to the wound for repeated surgical debridement which is often needed.  
           [0007]    Stamler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,003, teaches a cone shaped splash-back shield for use in lavage. The shield has a nozzle in the apex of the cone to produce a fine spray. The bottom of the cone is open for drainage. There are no other openings in the sidewalls of the shield.  
           [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,859 is similar to the Stamler patent but has an additional suction opening in the shield.  
           [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,385 to Greco teaches the use of a cylindrical shield with a lavage aperture and a drain on opposite sides of the cylindrical wall.  
           [0010]    What is needed is a flexible drape that prevents splash back and allows the doctor&#39;s view and access for the introduction of surgical instruments into the protected area. The drape Further, the drape may be combined with a flexible drain receptacle including a super absorbent so that the entire contaminated apparatus may be easily disposed in the normal procedures.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0011]    Disclosed is a surgical drape for enclosing an area about a wound during lavage. The drape is a transparent sheet of flexible plastic film having a center portion, a margin portion and a periphery. An aperture formed in the center portion of the sheet is adapted to fit about a lavage nozzle. An opening in the margin portion is adapted for manual access to a lavage site, the opening is constructed to prevent escape of lavage during manual access. The surgical drape forms a three-dimensional enclosure about a wound.  
           [0012]    The drape is treated on the internal surface with a or coating to prevent fog and adherence of fluid droplets so the surgeon view of the wound is not obscured.  
           [0013]    The drape is constructed to be easily removable from the extremity so the surgeon can perform debridements and/or irrigate the wound and then easily re-debride the wound, as needed. This is an important procedure in treating complex wound infections.  
           [0014]    Additionally, the drape of this invention includes ports to permit wound retractors to be inserted for exposing a larger surface of the wound.  
           [0015]    In a further embodiment, an absorbent pad is shaped to be placed in a drain receptacle whereby the surgical drape forms an enclosure about a wound with the absorbent pad disposed in the drain receptacle for use in collection and disposal of fluids.  
           [0016]    Accordingly, it is an object of the instant invention to provide an easily disposable, flexible, transparent, surgical drape to contain splash back and aerosols by-products of a wound lavage while permitting access to the wound site.  
           [0017]    It is a further object of the instant invention to provide a surgical kit or tray which includes a surgical drape to capture splash back from lavage and a drain receptacle with an super-absorbent pad.  
           [0018]    It is another object of the invention to provide a surgical drape that does not interfere with visual inspection the wound during lavage.  
           [0019]    It is yet another object of the invention to provide a surgical drape with sufficient flexibility to conform to various body shapes.  
           [0020]    Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 shows a perspective of the drape in operative position;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the disposable drain and pad; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3 shows a surgical kit with a surgical drape and the drain. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]    The surgical drape  10 , shown in FIG. 1, is made of a flexible and transparent sheet  12  of plastic material that is sterilized and inexpensive enough to be disposed of after a single use. Also, it is thin enough to easily conform to various body shapes and strong enough to be extended into a three-dimensional tent enclosure about a wound. As shown, the patient&#39;s hand  14  is enclosed within a tent shaped enclosure with the periphery  13  defining a mouth  15  of the enclosure. The drape closely conforms to the patient&#39;s wrist with no appreciable opening to allow escape of contaminants. The periphery  13  of the drape may be open to a standard surgical basin  52  with a drain  53 .  
         [0025]    The top portion  16  has an aperture  17  sealed about the irrigation or lavage instrument  20 . The lavage instrument is connected to a pump and reservoir  50  by hose  51 . The marginal portion  18  extends from the top portion  16  to the periphery  13 . Within the marginal portion  18 , slits or openings  19  are formed to allow medical personnel to manually access the wound area. The openings  19  are closed by flaps  21  attached to the drape about the openings but having free edges  22 . The openings may be closed by other structures, such as tape, Velcro, etc.  
         [0026]    The aperture  17  is fastened about its circumference to the irrigation device by adhesive applied to the drape around the aperture or by a tape  23  which can be wrapped around the irrigation nozzle. Of course, other fastening devices may be used to close the aperture about the nozzle. the drape is in place, as shown in FIG. 1, the lavage may proceed. Since the bottom of the tent shaped enclosure is open, air circulation is not impeded. Because the temperature is basically the same inside and outside the tent shaped enclosure, there is little or no condensation on the walls to obscure vision into the enclosure. Also, any droplets on the plastic sheet will freely run off toward the periphery of the drape. The interior of the enclosure may be treated with conventional surfactant compositions to reduce fogging and increase water flow off the drape.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 2 shows the disposable drain with the absorbent pad in place. The pad is overlaid with a screen  54  which may be of plastic or other material of sufficient strength to maintain the pad in place.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 3 illustrates the surgical kit  11  of this invention. The kit would make up a surgical tray used for debridement and lavage and include all necessary disposable elements to be used to treat the afflicted patient. The kit or tray has a surgical drape  10  which can be mounted on a lavage nozzle through aperture  17  and tape  23 . The kit has an inexpensive tray  25  which serves as a drain receptacle for the effluvia of the lavage. The drape may have a fastener  24  attached to the periphery  13  for connecting the drape to the drain receptacle  25 . The drain receptacle has a bottom  26  and continuous side  27  terminating in a lip  28 . The kit also has an absorbent pad  29  shaped to fit within the drain receptacle  25 . The absorbent pad with conventional super absorbents and/or cellulose fibers increases the amount of liquid the drain receptacle can hold.  
         [0029]    The wounded area of the patient&#39;s body is placed over the drain receptacle. The drape may then be fastened to the lip of the receptacle to hold the components in place. The drape is fastened to the lavage nozzle for irrigation of the area. After the lavage is completed, all the kit elements may be easily disposed of with the contaminated trash.  
         [0030]    It is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention is illustrated, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts herein described and shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and drawings.

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