Beds – Invalid bed or surgical support – Sectional user supporting surface
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-21
2001-10-09
Trettel, Michael F. (Department: 3628)
Beds
Invalid bed or surgical support
Sectional user supporting surface
C005S601000, C378S209000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298506
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a urological patient bed, of the type having a table top that is supported by a pedestal and that is comprised of a first plate section, made of X-ray-transparent material, and a second plate section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Urological patient beds of the type above are known and serve for accepting a patient in order to examine him or her and if necessary to administer treatment. In the examination procedure, an X-ray image of the relevant body area of the patient is normally obtained, for which purpose this body area is arranged on the first plate section made of X-ray-transparent material. For example, the renal area is imaged in order to examine whether kidney stones are present. An X-ray device is appropriately positioned for that purpose. Subsequent to the pickup of the X-ray image and the corresponding evaluation, it may be necessary to move the patient to another bed for treatment with, for example, a lithotripsy device for the destruction of the kidney stones.
The arrangement of an urological patient bed in the examination room, in most cases, is such that the head end of the patient bed, namely the area in which the head of the patient lies, points toward the door. This arrangement is not always possible, however, due to spatial limitations imposed by the examination devices or treatment devices that are to be arranged at the side of the patient bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,028 discloses a patient bed having a pedestal with a guiding part at which a first plate section is arranged so as to be horizontally displaceable. Frame sections are provided at each of the left side and the right side of the first plate section. One frame section has a central frame part, at which another plate section is displaceably arranged. The other frame section is formed by two frame parts that are opposite to one another; a further plate section is also displaceably supported at these frame parts. Further, a head part is fastened at the frame sections.
German OS 39 15 381 discloses a bed for a lithotripter having a central segment that is rigidly fastened at the lithotripter; extending segments can be attached to this central segment on both sides and further segments can be attached to these extenders. A treatment window, which can be closed with an inset, is provided at the central segment; the therapeutic head of the lithotripter can be introduced into this treatment window.
German OS 31 01 373 describes an operating table having a table top with pivotable extension sections that can be attached to a central table section.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a versatile patient bed.
This object is achieved in a urological patient bed of the above type having a first plate section and a second plate section fashioned as separate plate modules that are adjacently arranged, or that can be adjacently arranged, these plate modules being detachable and are exchangeably (detachably) fastened, or can be exchangeably fastened at the pedestal.
A particular advantage of the inventive patient bed is that a rigidly fastened table top or a rigidly fastened first plate section and second plate section are not utilized. Instead, these are modularly fashioned and can be arranged to one another in different positions, since they can be detachably and exchangeably fastened or attached at the pedestal holding device. It is thus possible to adapt the construction of the patient bed, in the framework of the installation, to the existing spatial requirements, so that the table layout can be arbitrarily selected facing right or left. It is thus advantageously possible to always orient the head end in the direction of the door, since the patient bed can be correspondingly reconfigured.
Moreover, the modular, variable construction of the inventive patient bed makes it possible for the treating physician to freely select the device side, namely the side from which the devices of the patient bed are approached or at which the devices are arranged. The inventive patient bed achieves an extremely flexible system and a system that is highly variable in its utilization.
In a further embodiment, additional extending plate sections can be arranged at one of the plate sections or at both plate sections. The further plate sections can also be fashioned in a modular manner and can be detachably arranged at the first plate section and/or the second plate section. In this embodiment of the invention, the table top is therefore composed of three modular pate sections, or (maximally) four modular plate sections, which are all detachable and which can be exchangeably attached. A highest degree of flexibility is thus achieved. A simple fastening of the plate section or of the further plate sections can be provided in the form of an insertion-type connection or insertion-type latch connection. Further, it has been proven advantageous when the two further plate sections have different lengths.
In order to enable an improved access possibility to the patient for a treatment device, particularly for the treatment head of a lithotripsy device, in a further embodiment a recess is provided at the second plate section, this recess being open toward one section side and which can be closed by means of a recess section that can be detachably inserted into the recess. The inventively provided recess at the second plate section, on which the treatment ensues by means of a lithotripsy device, for example, makes it possible to laterally introduce, in a simple way, the treatment head of the lithotripsy device into the recess or to bring it near the patient from below. When recess is closed the recess section, the full support surface is available when a treatment does not ensue. The recess should extend via at least one quarter of the width of the plate section. The recess should be dimensioned relatively small for patient comfort. Among other things, its size is also dependent on the size of the medical device to be introduced into the recess.
According to the invention, roller elements and/or support elements, which are arranged at the underside of the pedestal, can be mounted in a detachable manner and in a mirror-symmetric arrangement in order to provide sufficient stability for the patient bed in every configuration. Due to the selective arrangement of at least the first plate section and the second plate section and, as warranted, also the further plate sections, the center of gravity of the patient bed itself changes depending on the configuration as well as depending on different patients. In order to avoid an unintentional tilting, the inventively provided roller elements and/or support elements can be attached to the pedestal in a correspondingly mirror-symmetric manner, which means that the arrangement of these elements is dependent on the selected arrangement of the plate sections, so that a highest degree of stability is always produced. The roller elements can inventively include two fixed rollers and two guiding rollers and the support elements can inventively be a lifting mechanism with two lifter feet that can be placed on the bottom. The pedestal, together with the guiding rollers, is lifted at one end when the lifting mechanism is operated, so that it rests on the fixed rollers situated at one end of the pedestal and on the lifter feet situated at the other end of the pedestal. According to this inventive embodiment, the patient bed can be initially moved and positioned on the fixed rollers and the guiding rollers, whereupon the lifting mechanism is operated. Thereby, the guiding rollers are lifted; the pedestal then merely rests on the fixed rollers and the lifter feet and is advantageously sufficiently stabilized.
In order to be able to adjust any floor unevenness which may exist, so that a slight tilting, which can occur when a fixed roller or a lifter foot does not stand on the floor given a four-point-support, can be avoided, one lifter foot can be inventively fashioned as a spring-bias
Geist Friedrich K.
Heinold Michael
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Trettel Michael F.
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