Penetrating Device For Surgical Drainage

Abstract

Device for surgical drainage comprising a tube of a flexible material, the end of which bears a needle intended to be inserted in flesh. This needle is hollow, at least at its end adjoining the flexible tube, and this end is fixed by shrinking it upon the corresponding end of the tube, in which was placed previously a rigid filling part.

Description

This invention refers to a device for surgical drainage comprising essentially a tube adaptable as a drain, an end of which is fitted with a needle intended for inserting the tube into flesh. So, by means of the needle, the tube corresponding end can be inserted into flesh, then brought out again with the needle, which is to be separated from the tube afterwards in order that the tube can work as a drain for exhausting or injecting fluids in a human or an animal body.

Drains, which comprise only a tube of PVC or polythen, with a middle flexibility, including any number of side holes, were described by Redon, among others, in Presse Medicale 1955-63, No. 69, page 1,034, and in the French Patent No. 1,308,401. The setting of such tubes into position requires the use of a rigid, sharp-pointed needle, which is made usually of stainless steel, with an outer diameter equal to the flexible tube internal diameter. To make the needle integral with the tube at the time of insertion into the tissues, the needle rear part comprises a threading, or a series of ribs, the outer diameter of which is lightly above the flexible tube internal diameter. Of course, adjusting the tube upon the needle rear-part a sterile handling of the device at the time the apparatus is to be used. Besides, the needle, which is to be utilizable again, can be found damaged, and with such dimensions when it is needed, that they do not correspond exactly with those of the tube one wishes to employ.

More recently, the French Patent No. 2,073,688 offered a device comprising a flexible tube, fitted with the inserting needle on the waisted rear-part, without any threading or ribbing. This device enjoys the advantage of presenting at the same time a tube and a needle, which are quite well adjusted the one to the other, but there is a risk for both components to separate when a powerful traction is being exerted by the needle on the tube being held back by the tissues. Finally, the cost price of such device seems quite high for apparatus to be used but once.

This invention is intended to avoid the above disadvantages. For this purpose, the invention proposes a drainage device, in which the inserting needle is hollow at least at the end adjoining the tube, this end being held by setting on the corresponding end of the tube, inside which is a rigid filling part.

In this way, the needle is quite solidary with the corresponding end of the tube owing to the setting of the one on the other, and to the internal filling part, which avoids any possibility for the tube to become deformed, or to slip.

In an advantageous achievement of the invention, the inserting needle is made of a metallic tube, the end of which opposite the other tubular part is point-like narrowed.

Preferably, the metallic tube to be used has a middle rigidness. So, the practitioner can modify the form of the needle according to the conditions of use. At his will, he has in hand a needle, which is straight, slightly curved, or on the contrary very much curved, or else comprising a straight part followed by a curve, etc. -- Then, this would not be possible with inserting needles, such as in the present used draining devices, for those are made usually of a rigid stainless steel wire, to which was given a well-defined shape, the practitioner can not change.

Still, other particulars and advantages of the present device will appear in the following specification of an example of achievement. The specification is referring to the drawing being joined for giving indications only, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a partial side view of a draining device according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial section view of the inserting needle with the corresponding end of the tube;

Fig. 3 is a section view along line III--III of the FIG. 2;

The present device comprises essentially a flexible tube 1, which is made preferably of plastic, such as PVC, polythen, or polyamid resin. This tube is intended for working as the drain properly so called. For this purpose, the tube includes, in a usual way, a number of side holes, which are not seen in the drawing.

At one end, the tube bears a needle 2, intended to be inserted into flesh. The needle is made of a metallic tube of middle rigidity, of stainless steel, or aluminium alloy, such as Duralinox, preferably.

The inside diameter of the needle must be equal or lightly larger than the outer diameter of the other tube 1. If the making of a device fitted with a standard tube of PVC with an inside diameter of 1,5 mm, and an outer diameter of 3.0 mm is wished, so a stainless steel tube with an inside diameter of about 3.05 to 3.20 mm, and a wall thickness between 0.10 and 0.30 mm according to the intended rigidity is to be taken.

The tube 2 is secured on the corresponding end of the flexible tube 1 by a setting of the rear-end 3 of the one on the other by means of a shrinking machine. For this purpose, the flexible tube is being inserted into the metallic tube 2 over a length of about 10 to 20 mm, then the metallic tube is being set on the flexible tube, so that the outer diameter of the first is reduced to 3 mm. Still, a filling and straightening part 4 was placed before setting inside the corresponding end of the tube 1, as it appears in the FIG. 2.

The result is quite an effective fixing of the corresponding needle end on the flexible tube 1, and this result would not have been obtained the filling part 4 having not been provided inside the tube 1. As a matter of fact, without such a part 4, the corresponding portion of the flexible tube 1 could have been waisted but temporarily at the needle setting place, and an escape and an untimely parting of the needle during its being used because of a pull would not have been prevented.

Such a disadvantage is removed altogether by providing the filling part 4, which ensures besides a tight jamming of the flexible tube 1 between the terminal edge 6 of the needle and this part 4.

In addition to the close solidarity between needle and flexible tube thus obtained, this way of making a device gives the advantage that the outer diameter of the whole apparatus is fairly constant without any hindering outer projection. Indeed, the end of the needle 2 comes and links up with the outer surface of the flexible tube because of the setting of the tube on the tail portion 4b with a decreasing diameter 4a of the inner part 4. Consequently, the outer diameter of the needle end 3 decreases up to the terminal edge 6, and the outer surface of the needle comes and is flush with that of the tube, both surfaces linking up one with the other perfectly.

Setting of the needle on the tube end can be effected in a few seconds on a shrinking machine or a rotary swaging machine. This machine can also be used for shaping the terminal point 7 of the needle 2. As a matter of fact, the needle point can be made by narrowing the corresponding end of the metallic tube, which the needle is made of.

Moreover, this manufacturing method of a needle starting from a metallic tube, the end of which is being narrowed for shaping the point, gives the advantage of strengthening the point. Besides, the rear-end 3 itself of the needle is strengthened with its setting on the corresponding end of the flexible tube 1. Under such conditions, the needle 2 can be manufactured from a metallic tube of middle rigidity with no need of any rigid tube. This gives the advantage that the needle shape can be altered according to circumstances later on by the practitioner, who uses the needle. So, a needle can be made of more or less soft materials, such as aluminium or magnesium alloys, or stainless steels without any thermal treatment (for example AISI 304).

Then, that was not possible for former drainage devices. In those the needle was to be made of hard metal, because of the method applied to render needle and flexible tube solidary the one with the other by means of a cylindrical threaded or ribbed tail, the diameter of which being always small, so that the joining place is a weak spot compelling to make the needle of rigid stainless steel wire. It is not possible to modify afterwards the shape of the wire, and thus the practitioner is obliged to have a number of needle types in his possession to be able of meeting with all using circumstances. The inner strengthening filling part 4 can be either solid, or hollow, according to its dimensions and composition; for example, a tube of silicon rubber with an inner diameter of 4 mm, can be strengthened with a little cylinder of PVC, with an outer diameter of 4 mm, and a length of about 20 mm, the tube being introduced in the needle over a length of 15 to 20 mm. Nevertheless, the part 4 can also be made of semi-rigid plastic, e.g. polythen, polyamid, PVC, or a metal such as aluminium.

In another achievement, the needle point can be manufactured by inserting a solid point into the corresponding end of the tube 2, and fixing the point in position by setting the tube end. This point can be made of any suitable material, unlike eventually to that of the tube 2, e.g. a metal, or an extra-hard plastic, such as "Delrin," reinforced with glass fibers.

Instead of being made of a tube, the needle 2 can be eventually provided from a solid metal rod, with a middle rigidity, the rear-end 3 being then fitted with a recess in order to receive the corresponding end of the flexible tube 1. Thus, for example, a rod with a diameter of 4 mm can be machined easily on an automatic lathe for providing a bore with a diameter of 3.10 mm, and a depth of 10 to 20 mm, into which the end of a tube with a diameter of 3 mm can be introduced.

As mentioned above, the device according to the invention is intended to be used every time when a flexible tube must be inserted through an unnatural duct into the body of a human being, or of an animal.

A particularly interesting application of the device consists in insering surgical drains for post-operative vacuum-treatment of sores.

Relating to this treatment, it is advisable to note that the needle 1 is intended for being inserted into flesh to allow the tube to be introduced, but must be brought out again afterwards with the adjoining end of the tube. Then, this tube end is to be cut in order to loose the needle. The tube can be connected then with a syringe, or with a perfusion device, when a liquid must be injected into a human or an animal body. Nevertheless, the tube can be also connected with a suction device for effecting any pre-operative or post-operative drainage.

Claims

What I claim is:

1. A penetrating device for surgical drainage comprising a tube of flexible material; a needle adapted to be inserted in flesh and having a pointed end and an opposite hollow end portion extending over and being tightly fitted on a corresponding end portion of said tube; and a substantially ridig filling part fitted into said end portion of said tube so that said tube end portion is securely held between said tightly fitted end portion of said needle and said filling part.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said hollow end portion of said needle has an end edge of a diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the remainder of the tube downstream of said end edge of said needle, and wherein said filling part is formed at the outer surface thereof with an annular groove substantially radially aligned with said end edge of said needle.

3. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said needle is formed from a metallic tube the end of which opposite the tightly fitted end portion is narrowed to a sharp point.

4. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said needle is made from light metal alloy.

5. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said needle is made from stainless steel.

6. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said flexible tube is made from plastic material.