Surgery – Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants – Drapes
Patent
1994-12-29
1996-08-20
Brown, Michael A.
Surgery
Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants
Drapes
A61B 1900
Patent
active
055469604
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a surgical drape comprised of an absorbent sheet and a fluid-impermeable sheet attached thereto.
Applicant retails a surgical drape under the designation Klinidrape.RTM. (registered trademark), which is comprised of a three-sheet laminate. The laminate comprises a liquid-absorbent top sheet made of nonwoven material, a fluid-impermeable intermediate sheet of polyethylene, and a bottom absorbent sheet of cellulose wadding. The purpose of the top sheet is to absorb blood and other fluids delivered from the surgical wound, so as to prevent contamination of theatre personnel and the operating theatre as a whole. The plastic film forms a barrier against the transportation of fluid-carried bacteria between the patient and the area of the surgical wound, while the layer of cellulose wadding on the underneath of the drape is intended to enhance patient comfort, by absorbing perspiration and preventing direct contact of the patient's skin with the plastic sheet.
Although Klinidrape.RTM. fulfills the requirements of a surgical drape in a highly satisfactory fashion, the drape cannot be readily arranged in folds because of its relatively complicated structure, and is felt to be less soft than those surgical drapes of textile material traditionally replaced by this drape.
The object of the invention is to provide a surgical drape of simpler construction which has equally as good properties as or better properties than Klinidrape.RTM. with respect to both the absorbency of the top sheet and the barrier function of and the patient comfort afforded by the drape, and which can be arranged in folds more easily than the known drape.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention with a surgical drape of the kind defined in the introduction which is characterized in that the fluid-impermeable sheet is provided with projections on that side of the drape which lies distal to the absorbent sheet. Similar to Klinidrape.RTM., such a surgical drape has absolute barrier properties. Furthermore, such a surgical drape will provide good patient comfort, because only the bottoms of the projections will lie against the patient's skin, thereby providing good air circulation between the skin and the drape.
According to one advantageous embodiment, the projections are cup-shaped. This enhances the absorbency of the top sheet, in that fluid delivered by the surgical wound will be collected and held in the cup-shaped cavities of the projections.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the absorbent sheet is comprised of nonwoven spunlace material and the fluid-impermeable sheet is comprised of polyethylene film. In a preferred variant, the fluid-impermeable sheet is air-permeable, which in the preferred embodiment is achieved by using plastic film which is microporous.
An exemplifying embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which
FIG. 1 is a bottom view of part of a surgical drape constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line II--II in FIG. 1.
The illustrated surgical drape is comprised of an absorbent top sheet 1 and a bottom fluid-impermeable sheet 2 which when the drape is used lies nearest the patient's skin. The top sheet 1 is preferably made of a nonwoven material and may advantageously be made of spunlace material, which because it can be stretched coacts remarkably well with the plastic film, e.g. the polyethylene film of which the bottom fluid-impermeable barrier sheet 2 is preferably comprised. The strength of spunlace material will enable the top sheet to provide all the strength that is required of the drape, thereby obviating the need for the plastic film to take-up any appreciable load.
The whole of the undersurface of the plastic film 2 is provided with cup-shaped projections 3. This greatly reduces the abutment surface of the plastic film with the skin, since it is only the bottoms of the projections which come into contact with the patient's s
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Brown Michael A.
Molnlycke AB
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