U.S. patent number 3,596,657 [Application Number 04/799,471] was granted by the patent office on 1971-08-03 for thermally conductive surgical dressing.
Invention is credited to William Eidus.
United States Patent |
3,596,657 |
Eidus |
August 3, 1971 |
THERMALLY CONDUCTIVE SURGICAL DRESSING
Abstract
Surgical dressings comprising a combination of conventional
cotton gauze materials and thermally conductive elements interwoven
or impregnated in the cotton gauze materials to provide a surgical
dressing having an adequately high degree of absorbency and
excellent thermal conductivity to facilitate cooling or heat
treatment to body areas while bandaged.
Inventors: |
Eidus; William (Suffern,
NY) |
Family
ID: |
25175994 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/799,471 |
Filed: |
February 14, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
602/2; 139/425R;
602/43; 604/6.13; 139/426R; 604/304; 607/96 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61F
13/0206 (20130101); A61F 7/02 (20130101); A61F
13/534 (20130101); A61F 2007/0247 (20130101); A61F
2013/53445 (20130101); A61F 2013/00187 (20130101); A61F
2013/8479 (20130101); A61F 2013/00919 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61F
13/00 (20060101); A61F 13/15 (20060101); A61l
015/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;128/155,156,284,290,296,416,268,82.1 ;161/93,95 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
88,590 |
|
May 1922 |
|
OE |
|
854,681 |
|
Jan 1940 |
|
FR |
|
12,350 |
|
May 1896 |
|
CH |
|
Primary Examiner: Truluck; Dalton L.
Claims
What I claim is:
1. A thermally conductive surgical dressing comprising a body of
fibrous material having high liquid absorbency, said body having a
first surface and a second surface, a plurality of thermally
conductive elements distributed throughout said high-absorbency
fibrous material between said surfaces, said thermally conductive
elements being arranged to establish a heat conductive path through
said body between the inner and outer surfaces thereof, to thereby
provide a surgical dressing having a high liquid absorbency and
uniformly high thermal conductivity.
2. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes yarns
interwoven to form a layer of gauze, wherein each of said yarns
comprises at least one strand of highly absorbent fibrous material
and at least one strand of a high thermally conductive metal spun
together to form said yarns.
3. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes a least
one layer of gauze formed of alternately interwoven yarns of highly
absorbent fibrous material and yarns of thermally conductive fine
metallic strands.
4. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes at least
one layer of gauze formed of interwoven fibrous yarns having a high
degree of absorbency, and particles of thermally conductive
particles impregnated in said yarns.
5. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes
alternate layers of thermally conductive fine wire mesh gauze and
absorbent fibrous gauze.
6. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes a wad of
highly absorbent fibrous material impregnated with thermally
conductive metallic particles.
7. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes at least
one adhesive strip secured to said surgical dressing, said adhesive
strip including thermally conductive metallic particles impregnated
therein.
8. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 which includes a thick
layer of highly absorbent fibrous material and at least one layer
of thermally conductive metallic gauze on each of the top and
bottom surfaces of said layer of fibrous material.
9. A surgical dressing according to claim 1 wherein said fibrous
material comprises cotton.
10. An article of clothing formed of the material comprising
surgical dressing according to claim 1.
Description
The present invention relates to surgical dressings and more
particularly to thermally conductive surgical dressings.
Presently known surgical dressing materials include cotton gauze
strips, bandages, pads and cotton balls. The primary functions of
such presently employed dressings are to provide sterile protection
to the applied area and/or to absorb any fluids at the area of the
wound or incision. In some cases the dressings provide a protective
cushion to the affected area to minimize aggravation or pain which
would otherwise be caused by pressure on the wound.
Although the aforementioned presently employed surgical dressings
have been found satisfactory for the above purposes, in many
instances, because of the inherent nature of the dressing
materials, the aforementioned conventional dressings prevent the
removal of heat from particular body areas, during surgical
procedures and during the postoperative period. This is so because
the aforementioned surgical dressings act as thermal insulators
because the cotton material is itself a very poor conductor of heat
and furthermore, because the small air pockets formed between the
cotton threads of such dressings are excellent thermal insulators.
In fact, materials very similar to the conventional surgical cotton
padding is expressly employed for the purpose of providing thermal
insulation in clothing.
Many instances of medical treatment require the direct application
of cooling packs or instruments to specific body areas for purposes
such as reduction of pain, retarding swelling or edema due to
injury, and to check bleeding. Clearly, since the conventional
surgical dressings are poor thermal conductors, where the affected
body area must be bandaged, the transmission of heat from the body
area is very slow and inefficient.
Conversely, in those instances where it is desirable to apply heat
to a body area that must remain bandaged, it is very difficult to
transmit heat efficiently and evenly through the bandages and to
the desired body area due to the poor thermal transfer
characteristics of such conventional surgical dressing
materials.
In cases of patients with high fevers, it is common medical
practice to apply a cold thermal pad or blanket to the patient's
body in order to reduce the patient's temperature. In such cases,
because of the thermal barrier presented by conventional sheets or
common sterile materials, the thermal blanket is applied directly
to the patient's body causing the thermal blanket itself to become
soiled during this treatment. Accordingly, before use by another
patient, the thermal blanket must be laundered and sterilized, a
procedure which is time consuming and costly.
Furthermore, in the case of hydrotherapy treatments, since the
patient must be in a disrobed condition for efficient application
of cold, in order to maintain privacy the hydrotherapy apparatus is
usable only in the presence of one patient at a time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a
disposable surgical dressing having highly improved thermal
conduction characteristics.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a
surgical dressing of the character described which provides an even
distribution of heat transfer over the area thereof in contact with
the body area.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, there
is provided a surgical dressing comprising high-absorbency fibrous
material in combination with thermally conductive elements
distributed throughout said fibrous material to provide a surgical
dressing having a high absorbency and uniformly high thermal
conductivity.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will
become apparent during the course of the following specification
when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a surgical dressing pad made in
accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a single strand of yarn for
making up the dressing pad of FIG. 1, comprising a fiber strand
spun together with a thermally conductive metallic thread.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1
showing a dressing pad made up of the yarn shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a modified form of dressing pad
according to the present invention comprising alternate strands of
metallic wire and fiber respectively interwoven to form a gauze
pad.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of another modified form of dressing pad
in accordance with the present invention comprising a layer of
thermally conductive metal gauze sandwiched between two layers of
cotton gauze.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of still another form of dressing pad in
accordance with the present invention, comprising a thick wad of
absorbent cotton having a thermally conductive metallic wire gauze
layer on the top and bottom surfaces thereof.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an absorbent cotton ball
impregnated with thermally conductive metallic particles in
accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a dressing pad similar to that of
FIG. 1, but comprising cotton gauze impregnated with thermally
conductive metallic particles.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view of an alternate type of yarn which
may be used for making up the dressing pad of FIG. 1, the yarn
comprising a plurality of fiber strands impregnated with thermally
conductive metallic particles.
FIG. 10 is a sectional view through a strip of adhesive tape
impregnated with thermally conductive metallic particles, and
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a dressing pad similar to that of
FIG. 1, but provided with strips of adhesive at opposite ends
thereof to provide a self-retaining bandage.
Referring in detail to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 1
thereof, there is shown a surgical dressing pad 10 made in
accordance with the present invention, for application to the body
area of a patient to provide even and efficient thermal transfer to
and from the selected body area. As will hereinafter become clear,
dressing pad 10 may comprise various combinations of conventional
fibers such as cotton which provides the required absorbency, and
fine metallic wire which provides thermal conductivity in order to
facilitate the conduction of heat to or from the body area.
Dressing pad 10 may comprise various combinations of cotton
material and thermally conductive elements.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in one embodiment, dressing pad 10
comprises yarns 12 cross-woven in the conventional pattern to form
a gauze layer 14, with each yarn 12 comprising at least one strand
16 of fiber material spun together with at least one strand of fine
metallic wire 18. FIG. 2 shows the intertwisting of one strand of
fiber with one strand of metallic wire, however, it is understood
that various combinations of different number of fiber strands 16
and metallic strands 18 may be spun together to form a yarn 12,
depending on the degree of absorbency and thermal conductivity
desired in the dressing pad 14 to be formed thereby. In practice,
pad 10 will usually comprise a plurality of gauze layers 14 in
order to provide sufficient absorbency and/or cushion effect as
needed.
Referring to FIG. 5, in another embodiment of the present
invention, a surgical dressing pad 20 in accordance with the
present invention may comprise a pair of layers 22 of conventional
fiber gauze having sandwiched therebetween at least one layer 24 of
gauze made up of interwoven strands of fine metal wire 26. It is
understood that although FIG. 4 shows a single metallic layer 24
between two fiber layers 22, it is understood that pad 20 may
comprise various numbers of alternate layers 22 and 24 depending on
the degree of absorbency and thermal conductivity desired in pad
20.
In another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6,
a surgical dressing 28 may comprise a thick wad 30 of absorbent
cotton having a layer 32 of metallic gauze on the top and bottom
surfaces of the wad 30 for use in those cases where a high degree
of absorbency is required while providing greatly improved thermal
conductivity characteristics over the conventional cotton wad.
Conventional cotton wadding such as in the form of balls are
excellent means for absorbing body secretions and for serving to
protect a wound area from impact or further injury. However, such
known cotton balls serve to thermally insulate the body area to
which they are applied, a condition which in some instances, as
pointed out above, is deleterious to rapid healing of the wound and
which interferes with treatment involving removal of heat from the
affected area. Keeping in mind that in such cases, the wound must
be dressed with high-absorbency bandages, in another embodiment of
the present invention, as shown in FIG. 7, a wad of absorbent
cotton in the form of a ball 34 is impregnated with thermally
conductive metallic particles 36. In this way, the thermally
conductive metallic particles 36 serve to provide a thermal
conduction path through cotton ball 34 to improve the thermal
conductivity thereof while essentially maintaining its
high-absorbency characteristics. In a similar fashion as shown in
FIG. 8, a cotton gauze pad 35 may be impregnated with thermally
conductive metallic particles 37.
The above-described principle of the present invention, i.e.
impregnation of conventional absorbent cotton dressings with highly
conductive particles to improve the thermal conductivity thereof,
is implemented in yet another embodiment of the present invention,
by impregnating individual cotton yarns 38 with thermally
conductive particles 40 as depicted in FIG. 9. The impregnated yarn
38 may be interwoven to form layers of gauze in the manner shown in
FIG. 3, and may be combined with other layers, for example with
layers of gauze comprising either pure cotton such as layers 22 in
FIG. 5, or with layers of wire gauze such as the layers 24 in FIG.
5, to provide a dressing having the desired degree of absorbency
and heat transfer characteristics.
It is understood that in many cases, surgical dressings must be
secured by means of adhesive tape or the like. However,
conventional adhesive tapes used for such purposes have very poor
heat transfer properties and serve to aggravate the problem of heat
transfer to and from the body area. Accordingly, in a further
embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 10, there is
provided a strip of adhesive tape 42 having fine thermally
conductive metallic particles 44 impregnated therein. Such
thermally conductive particles 44 do not materially interfere with
the adhesive action of tape 42 yet provide improved thermal
conduction through the tape 42, and accordingly when the tape is
used in conjunction with any of the other dressings of the present
invention described above, it substantially improves and
facilitates heat transfer to and from the body area during the
course of heat or refrigeration treatment. By way of example, as
shown in FIG. 11, narrow strips of such thermally conductive
adhesive tape 42 may be secured to opposite edges of a dressing pad
48 constructed in accordance with any of the embodiments of the
present invention described herein.
In another embodiment of the dressing pad 10, as shown in FIG. 4,
each gauze layer 14 may comprise alternate strands of fiber 19,
such as cotton, and fine metal wire 21 which strands are interwoven
to form gauze layer 14 which retains an adequate measure of
absorbency due to fiber strands 19 while providing a greatly
increased thermal conductivity due to the high thermal conductivity
of metallic strands 21. Furthermore, the cross weave configurations
of strands 19 and 21 insures an even thermal distribution
throughout gauze layer 14. Again it is understood that in many
instances several layers of gauze 14 may be suitably arranged in a
stack to form a pad 10 of suitable absorbency and thermal
conductivity.
Further, the thermally conductive gauze materials described
hereinabove in the form of sheet material, may be utilized to make
various articles of clothing, such as gloves, pajamas, etc. to be
worn by a patient undergoing physical therapy treatment such as
hydrotherapy. In this way, the patient may be suitably covered or
dressed with thermally conductive, absorbent, sterile and
disposable individually available dressings thereby avoiding the
awkwardness or embarrassment of exposure which would otherwise
obtain as in the case of group hydrotherapy where several patients
are present.
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and
described herein, it is obvious that numerous omissions, changes
and additions may be made in such embodiments without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention.
* * * * *