Surgery – Means for introducing or removing material from body for... – Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-29
2001-07-24
Kennedy, Sharon (Department: 3763)
Surgery
Means for introducing or removing material from body for...
Treating material introduced into or removed from body...
C600S156000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264636
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a device for use in the flushing of a bodily cavity and comprising a container provided with a first connection opening for a pump/suction means and with a second connection opening for a tube connection communicating, in a situation of use of the device, with the bodily cavity to be flushed, a tube member extending inwards into the container from the second connection opening, said tube member being formed with at least one first opening through which flushing liquid is pumped by the pump/suction means and with at least one second opening through which flushing liquid is sucked out of the cavity into the interior of the container, means being provided at the second opening to allow and block flow into the container through said opening.
Such devices are used e.g. in connection with treatments where tissue pieces have been scraped or cut off from the surrounding tissue. The treatment may e.g. involve prostatic surgery in which such tissue pieces are scraped or cut off using endoscopy equipment known per se.
After scraping, the tissue pieces will be present in the bodily cavity, which, in case of prostatic surgery, is the urinary bladder and the urinary tracts,
In such cases, to remove these tissue pieces, a device of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph is mounted post-operatively on the endoscopic tube, which is still inserted in the urinary tracts. Liquid is hereby pumped inwards through the tube and into the urinary bladder and is sucked again, causing the scraped or cut tissue pieces to be flushed out.
A large number of such devices is known. However, all of these are vitiated by drawbacks to a greater or smaller degree, which make their use a time-consuming operation, and the achieved result is not always satisfactory.
The most commonly used device of this type today (the so-called Ellik evacuator) comprises a container with an opening for a pump/suction means and an opening which can communicate with an endoscopic tube through a hose connection. The openings in the container are not shielded against each other, and the sucked tissue pieces are therefore collected in the container exclusively by their gravitational precipitation. This known and commonly used device involves a great risk of tissue pieces being pumped into the bodily cavity again, and also a risk of tissue pieces being sucked into the pump suction means. The necessary gravitational precipitation makes the use of this system time-consuming and inefficient. Since the sucked tissue pieces are moreover to transported to a laboratory for analysis, these must be removed from the container and be transferred to a transport container. This adds to the time consumption. The handling of the tissue pieces moreover involves a considerable risk of infection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,408 discloses a device of the type defined in the opening paragraph. This device involves the risk that the sucked tissue pieces will find their way to the pump/suction means and hide there. This is of considerable importance for the further analysis of the removed tissue pieces. The device of this US patent is moreover vitiated by the same drawbacks with respect to transport as are described in connection with the above-mentioned Ellik evacuator.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a device of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph which contributes to rapid and efficient flushing to a significantly greater degree than the known devices, and where the tissue pieces after flushing are present in the container itself.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a device of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph, which is characterized in that a filter element is disposed around the second opening so as to separate the second opening from the connection opening of the pump/suction means.
When the device is constructed in this manner, it is ensured that the flushed tissue pieces do not settle in the pump/suction means itself, since these will be retained by the filter element in any event and thus be present in the container itself.
Advantageously, the device of the invention consists of a container body and a container lid, said first and second openings being provided in the container lid, said tube element forming part of the lid, and said filter element being formed by a detachable apertured plate. This results in a simple structure in terms of manufacture, as it just consists of three parts. A one-way valve (non-return valve) or optionally a flap element is expediently provided in connection with the closable second opening.
The first opening or openings in the tube element are expediently provided as axially directed slots in the part of the tube element facing the filter element. This results in a simple structure in terms of manufacture, and the provision of the slots at the end of the tube element adjoining the filter element moreover ensures that there will just be a small dead volume in the tube element.
The device may include a transport lid capable of replacing the container lid. This is expedient, as the scraped tissue pieces, usually after the completion of surgery, are to be transported for further analysis at a laboratory. In this connection, the container will usually be filled with a preservation liquid in the form of formalin, which is to be poured off again prior to the analysis at the laboratory. Here, the filter element again serves as a sieve, causing the scraped tissue pieces to be retained in the container when formalin liquid is poured off. Accordingly, the resulting structure, when being handled, involves a smaller risk of infection than is the case with the previously known devices.
The device of the invention is expediently made of a transparent material as far as the container body and the container lid are concerned. This allows monitoring of the flushing of the tissue pieces, while monitoring e.g. whether bleedings occur from the site of surgery.
The pump/suction means used in connection with the device is expediently a squeezable bulb capable of expanding again by its own spring force. In principle, however, it is possible to use other types of pump/suction means.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1925230 (1933-09-01), Buckhout
patent: 3892226 (1975-07-01), Rosen
patent: 4282873 (1981-08-01), Roth
patent: 4880408 (1989-11-01), Cumes et al.
patent: 2 592 584 (1986-01-01), None
Holm Hans Henrik
Holm Jacob
Holm Niels Chr.
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Kennedy Sharon
Maersk Medical A/S
Sirmons Kevin C.
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