Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1986-02-05
1988-01-26
Cohen, Lee S.
Surgery
Truss
Pad
29877, A61B 504, H01R 4300
Patent
active
047211113
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a medical electrode and to a method for making it.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disposable medical electrodes are used in cardiac monitoring by ECG. A disposable medical electrode for deriving electrical signals from a patient's skin is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,392 (Eastprint Inc). The Eastprint electrode is intended to conform to the contour of the patient's body and to provide a good conductive path between a skin area underlying the electrode and an electrical contact in the form of a male snap fastener element projecting from the top of the electrode. A support layer in the form of a soft compliant layer of polyurethane foam has an aperture in which a gel pad is a compression fit. The lower face of the support layer is adhesive coated. The contact element and the foil strip are offset on the support layer with a flexible conductive foil strip connecting them so that movement of the contact element does not disturb the conductive path between that element and the skin area to which the electrode is adhered. The foil strip both makes the contact with the gel pad and provides the connection to the remotely located contact element, and for the former purpose it has to be unattacked by the gel material and to be electrically compatible with the gel pad, and so silver or other relatively expensive materials have to be used. Furthermore the Eastprint electrode is complex and inherently expensive to make, so that it would not be attractive for use in routine diagnostic procedures.
Recently 3M Health Care have introduced the socalled Littman diagnostic ECG electrode which uses a solid gel electrolyte on the lower face of aluminium foil. But a solid gel presents problems where it is necessary to make contact through the skin on a hairy chest, and requires a 20-30 second delay before the skin is penetrated and contact is established.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a disposable ECG electrode that can provide an electrical signal comparable with the best existing electrodes, but which employs a conventional soft gel for rapid penetration of the skin's horny outer layer and which can be made very inexpensively.
The invention is based on the realisation that if the support is an impermeable material the contact pad can be located on the lower or concealed face of the support and can be contacted through the support, in which case it performs the dual function of making the contact with the gel pad and physically separating the gel pad from a connector on the top or exposed face.
The invention therefore provides a medical electrode comprising:
(a) a support coated on each face with an adhesive and formed with a through hole;
(b) a conductive gel pad adhered to a first face of the support beneath the through hole;
(c) a contact pad of inert electrically conductive liquid impervious, material adhered to the first face of the support between the support and the gel pad beneath the through holes; and
(d) a connector adhered to the second face of the support, electrically connected through the through hole to the contact pad, and leading from the contact pad to the edge of the electrode.
The invention further provides a method for making a medical electrode which comprises:
forming apertures in a strip of support material coated on its first and second faces with an adhesive;
adhering a connector to the second face of the support, said connector extending from the through hole to the edge of the support;
covering the second face and the connector with a protective plastics film coextensive with the support;
adhering an electrode contact pad of an inert metal foil to the first face of the support so as to underlie the through-hole;
adhering a conductive gel pad to the first face of the support so as to underlie and surround the contact pad; and
impregnating the pad with conductive gel.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED FEATURES
Preferably a protective liquid-impermeable plastics film at least coextensive with the support an
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Cohen Lee S.
Sciotronic Limited
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