Surgical Drape With Protected Access Opening

Abstract

A surgical drape comprising a pair of coextensive, parallel, flexible fabric element means bonded to one another in spaced areas providing an interior unbonded area therebetween with slit opening means providing access to the unbonded area past the fabric element means. The slit opening means are parallel to and perpendicularly spaced from one another across the unbonded area providing a protected access opening through the pair of fabric element means extended in the plane thereof, said spaced bonded areas maintaining the fabric element slit opening means throughout the unbonded area closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position to restrict passage of material through said access opening and manually openable for access therethrough. The drape may also include an enclosed flexible pocket element having an open end bonded around the periphery of one of the opening means for manual access to the interior of the pocket element through said drape and an access fenestration directly through the drape spaced from the access slit opening means and the unbonded area therebetween, the slit opening means restricting passage of material from the access fenestration into the pocket element.

Description

This invention relates to surgical drapes for use during surgery.

It is frequently desirable during surgery and cystoscopic examination to have a readily available access through the surgical drape, yet without destroying the integrity of asepsis of the drape, at least until it is desired to utilize the access opening. However, the provision of such an access opening has proved difficult to achieve, even though attempts have been made to do so, as appears, for example, on page 7 of the issue of Hospital Business of Feb. 1969.

Accordingly, it is a major object of the present invention to provide a novel and highly effective protected access opening through a surgical drape.

In the present invention, this is accomplished by providing a surgical drape comprising a pair of coextensive parallel, flexible fabric element means bonded to one another in spaced areas providing an interior unbonded area therebetween with slit opening means providing access to the unbonded area past the fabric element means. The slit opening means are parallel to and perpendicularly spaced from one another across the unbonded area providing a protected access opening through the pair of fabric element means extended in the plane thereof, said spaced bonded areas maintaining the fabric element slit opening means throughout the unbonded area closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position to restrict passage of material through said access opening and manually openable for access therethrough. The drape may also include an enclosed flexible pocket element having an open end bonded around the periphery of one of said slit opening means for manual access to the interior of said pocket element through said drape and an access fenestration directly though the drape spaced from the access slit opening means and the unbonded area therebetween, the slit opening means restricting passage of material from the access fenestration into the pocket element.

For the purpose of more fully explaining further objects and features of the invention, reference is now made to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, together with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view of a surgical drape embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the drape of FIG. 1, taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1, showing the access opening in normally closed position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view like that of FIG. 2 showing the access opening in open position;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the drape of FIG. 1, taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1, showing the access opening and pocket element in normally closed position; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view like that of FIG. 4, showing the access opening and pocket element in open position.

Referring to the drawings, the surgical drape therein shown is of the cystoscopy type generally in the form of a T with a transversely elongated upper portion, generally designated 12, and a longitudinally elongated lower portion generally designated 14, overlapped and bonded to the lower margin of upper portion 12 generally centrally thereof. Although a wide variety of sheet materials may be employed in its construction, a flexible cellulosic non-woven fabric having suitable moisture resistance is preferred. The lower portion 14 includes a conventional oval fenestration 16 and a liquid strainer 18 of foraminous fabric.

In order to provide the novel protected access opening portion spaced from fenestration 16 according to the present invention, lower portion 14 is constructed of a pair of fabric elements, upper fabric element 22 and lower fabric element 32, with the lower margin 23 of upper element 22 overlapping the upper margin 33 of lower element 32 so that said pair of elements are coextensive and normally generally parallel to one another in the region between said margins. As hereinafter more fully explained, the degree of overlap, that is, the distance between margins 23 and 33 should be substantial, at least about 1 inch and preferably about 2 inches up to a maximum of about 6 inches.

The overlapped fabric elements are bonded to one another in transversely spaced areas by suitable adhesive layers 34, 36 (expanded in thickness in the drawings for emphasis) adjacent the outer longitudinal margins 13, 15 of lower portion 14 and extending inwardly therefrom to terminate in transversely spaced inner edges 42, 44 defining an interior unbonded area 40 therebetween extending longitudinally between lower and upper margins 23 and 33. A pair of slit openings, upper opening 39 and lower opening 41, are thus provided as an access into and through unbonded area 40 in the plane thereof past each of fabric elements 22, 32. Slit openings 39, 41 are parallel to and perpendicularly longitudinally spaced from one another across the unbonded area 40, with such area and the slit openings all being longitudinally spaced from fenestration 16.

A flexible pocket element preferably in the form of bag 50, or alternatively a glove type containment for the gloved surgeon's hand, preferably liquid proof or liquid resistant to prevent bacterial migration from the anus to the surgeon's gloved hand, such element being preferably of plastic film, or alternatively of rubber, nonwoven fabric or laminate of nonwoven and plastic film and either clear or opaque, is adhesively attached to the drape on the lower side thereof with its mouth preferably around the periphery of lower slit opening 41, preferably the inner periphery, as is best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The upper side of said bag is adhesively attached to the lower surface of fabric member 22 and the lower side of said bag to the upper surface of fabric member 32 to seal said bag within slit opening 41 and, in effect, form an extension of unbonded area 40. In some embodiments of the invention, it is contemplated that bag 50 may be omitted for direct access through the drape.

In use, during surgery and cystoscopy procedure, for example, when liquids are apt to flow from fenestration opening 16 or from instruments extended from said opening along the drape to liquid strainer 18, the spaced bonded areas 34, 36 maintain the slit openings 39, 41 throughout unbonded area 40 closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, so that passage of liquids through the access opening into bag 50 is prevented. The interior of bag 50 is thus kept in a clean and dry condition for use by the surgeon, yet it is readily manually openable for access therethrough into bag 50 simply by inserting the hand into the outer slit opening 39 to expand unbonded area 40 into a sleeve, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. When the hand is withdrawn, the access opening automatically returns to its closed position.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A surgical drape having a protected access opening portion comprising

a pair of coextensive parallel flexible fabric element means bonded to one another in spaced areas providing an interior unbonded area therebetween and slit opening means providing access to said unbonded area past each of said fabric element means

said slit opening means being parallel to and perpendicularly spaced from one another across said unbonded area providing an access opening through said pair of element means extended in the plane thereof

said spaced bonded areas maintaining said fabric element slit opening means throughout said unbonded area closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position to restrict passage of material through said access opening and being manually openable for access therethrough and

an enclosed flexible pocket element having an open end bonded around the periphery of one of said opening means for manual access to the interior of said pocket element through said drape.

2. A surgical drape having a protected access opening portion comprising

a pair of coextensive parallel flexible fabric element means bonded to one another in transversely spaced areas providing a longitudinally and transversely extending interior unbonded area therebetween and transversely extending slit opening means providing access to said unbonded area past each of said fabric element means

said slit opening means being parallel to and perpendicularly longitudinally spaced from one another across said unbonded area providing an access opening through said pair of element means longitudinally extended in the plane thereof

an enclosed flexible bag having an open end bonded around the periphery of one of said opening means and

an access fenestration directly through said drape spaced from said access slit opening means and the unbonded area therebetween

said spaced bonded areas maintaining said fabric element slit opening means throughout said unbonded area closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position to restrict passage of material from said access fenestration through said access opening into said bag and being manually openable for manual access therethrough into said bag.

3. A surgical drape as claimed in claim 2 wherein

said interior unbonded area is longitudinally extended for at least about 1 inch and no more than about 6 inches.

4. A surgical drape as claimed in claim 2 wherein

said interior unbonded area is longitudinally extended for about 2 inches.

5. A surgical drape having a protected access opening portion comprising

a pair of coextensive parallel flexible fabric element means bonded to one another in spaced areas providing an interior unbonded area therebetween and slit opening means providing access to said unbonded area past each of said fabric element means

said slit opening means being parallel to and perpendicularly spaced from one another across said unbonded area providing an access opening through said pair of element means extended in the plane thereof

an enclosed flexible pocket element having an open end bonded around the periphery of one of said opening means for manual access to the interior of said pocket element through said drape and

an access fenestration directly through said drape spaced from said access slit opening means and the unbonded area therebetween

said spaced bonded areas maintaining said fabric element slit opening means throughout said unbonded area closely adjacent to one another in normally closed position to restrict passage of material from said access fenestration through said access opening into said pocket element and being manually openable for access therethrough into said pocket element.