Surgery – Instruments – External pressure applicator
Patent
1998-01-21
1999-02-23
Buiz, Michael
Surgery
Instruments
External pressure applicator
602 58, 128887, A61B 1700
Patent
active
058738908
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system for dressing the wound created during dialysis and preventing the spurting of blood from the blood vessel during and after removal of a hypodermic needle. The invention also relates to a novel strap means for applying pressure on a wound made by a hypodermic needle, particularly suitable for use in hemodialysis.
BACKGROUND
Hemodialysis, generally called simply dialysis, is a method for permanently maintaining patients whose kidneys have failed to function totally or almost totally because of disease or injury.
In healthy kidneys, blood flows through the kidney tubes where waste materials pass through the microscopically thin walls and are eliminated through the urine, while the cleansed and purified blood returns into circulation. Hemodialysis duplicates this process almost exactly. A dialysis machine is connected to an artery via an intake tube and the natural pumping action of the heart drives the blood into the machine, where it is passed through a semi-permeable membrane immersed in a specially prepared cleansing solution. The blood is then returned to the patient's body through another tube to a vein.
In most cases, where a person requires dialysis on a regular basis, a simple operation is performed, whereby a vein in the arm is connected to an artery. This creates a vein which is rich in arterial blood. The connecting tube is called a "shunt".
In order to perform the dialysis it is common to insert into the shunt, a hypodermic needle connected to a tube that leads to the dialysis machine. Between the metal part of the hypodermic needle and the tube is a plastic butterfly-wing shaped connection (hereinafter called "butterfly"). This enables easy insertion and removal of the needle.
The common practice is to insert the second needle for the return flow of the blood from the dialysis machine to the vein, close to the point of entry of the first needle (approximately 5 to 10 cm apart).
When the needle is removed from the shunt, blood spurts out due to the fact that the shunt is filled with arterial blood which is driven by pressure from the pumping action of the heart. To eliminate this spurting of blood, one has to exert pressure at the point of entry of the needle into the skin. This is done by pressing a sponge on the area. The sponge is usually a gauze ball or folded gauze pad and is held in place by pressing with a finger. The blood flow is stopped and the needle removed. The pressure is maintained on the skin, on the blood vessel and on the shunt below it until the shunt is closed by a blood clot and a clot forms on the skin--a process which can take from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the individual patient. When the clots are formed, the sponge is removed and replaced with a clean dressing.
From the moment that the needle is removed until the end of the pressure process, the nurse/attendant must hold the sponge in place, and cannot release the pressure, thus taking valuable time which could be used to attend to another patient. The nurse/attendant is naturally impatient to complete the process, and may release the pressure on the sponge too early, to see if the blood has clotted. This results in uneven pressure being applied on the area which is unhealthy. When pressure is released before the proper time, blood clots are not properly formed and each further burst of blood enlarges the former clot. The shunt eventually becomes blocked by these excess clots and may have to be replaced.
There exist several methods for preventing blood spurting from the entry/exit point of the needle.
One such method involes applying a plastic (non-permeable) adhesive tape which contains in its center an expandable sponge pad to one side of the needle. The pad is positioned above the point of entry/exit of the needle and expands on contact with fluids. Pressure is exerted on the sponge pad under which lies the needle and the needle is removed by holding the butterfly on the needle. Continuous pressure is exerted on the sponge whilst the other half of the
REFERENCES:
patent: 5269803 (1993-12-01), Geary et al.
patent: 5653224 (1997-08-01), Johnson
Buiz Michael
Trinh Vikki
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