This invention relates to the field of emergency medical devices, including cooling devices used for therapeutic reasons in time-critical situations.
Great interest is currently being generated in the treatment of spinal cord injury, heart attack, stroke, head injury, and other traumatic injuries by the use of cooling to control swelling and prevent further injury. The efficacy of this treatment increases as the time between initial injury and application of the treatment decreases. Therefore, it is desirable to have cooling equipment for use at the scene of the injury in order to enable swift treatment.
A medical device according to the invention includes one or more cooling devices. The cooling devices may be arranged as part of an assembly. The cooling devices may be fitted into a patient support device, or otherwise applied to a patient support surface. Such an assembly may be used to prevent swelling in an injured person or to preserve the remains of a dead person.
In an embodiment of the invention, the medical device may be a litter or stretcher having a mattress, which includes a cooling device. For example, the medical device may be integrally formed with a mattress, and the mattress may be adapted to fit an emergency gurney, litter or stretcher of the types known in the art.
The cooling devices may have an impermeable bag and a selectively breakable barrier, which divides the cooling device into two storage areas. One of the storage areas may be filled with water, and the other storage area may be filled with a chemical that reacts with water to produce an endothermic reaction.
Another type of cooling device has an impermeable outer bag and a selectively breakable inner bag. The outer bag may include water and the inner bag may include a chemical which will react with the water to produce an endothermic reaction. Alternatively, the inner bag may include water and the outer bag may include the chemical. The chemical (“reactant”), such as ammonium nitrate, reacts with water to produce an endothermic reaction.
In use, the selectively breakable barrier or selectively breakable bag, as the case may be, is broken in order to allow the reactant to react with the water, thereby causing an endothermic reaction. This reaction will cool the water contained within the impermeable bag, the bag itself, and any objects in thermal communication with the impermeable bag. The selectively breakable barrier may be broken by increasing the pressure of a first storage area relative to a second storage area, or vice versa, by applying a force to one of the storage areas. Similarly, the selectively breakable barrier may be broken by increasing the pressure to the outer bag relative to the inner bag. Alternatively, pressure may be applied directly to the selectively breakable barrier.
The present invention may be embodied as a medical device for supporting a human body. The medical device may be used to transport an injured person or a dead body. In this use, the cooling assembly may include a mattress upon which the injured person is placed. The mattress may be adapted to fit an emergency gurney, litter or stretcher of the types known in the art. Multiple cooling devices may be used in this medical device.
The present invention may be directed to a medical bed for the support of an injured person. In this use, the cooling assembly may form, may be embedded within, or may encapsulate a mattress upon which the injured person is placed. The mattress may be adapted to fit a hospital bed, which may include elevating and reclining features, of the type known in the art. Multiple cooling devices may be used in this device.
The invention will be described further by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the attached drawings and diagrams in which:
In one or more portions of the cooling assembly 3 there may be a cooling device 25. The cooling device 25 may include an impermeable bag 26 having a selectively breakable barrier 28 therein. The barrier 28 divides the bag 26 into a first side A having water therein, and a second side B having a reactant, such as ammonium nitrate. Prior to breaking the barrier 28, the barrier 28 separates the contents of side A from the contents of side B. When the barrier 28 is broken, the contents of side A are allowed to mix with the contents of side B. By mixing the contents, an endothermic reaction allowed to occur by the reaction of the contents. This reaction will cool the contents of the cooling device 25 and any objects that are in thermal communication with the cooling device 25, including a person's body. The cooling devices may be affixed or detachably affixed to one or more portions of the cooling assembly 3 by conventional methods such as stitching, gluing, or fastening. Fasteners may include, without limitation, adhesive fastener elements, snap fastener elements, strap elements, hook-and-loop fasteners, and/or clip elements. Alternatively, the cooling devices may be housed within one or more portions of the substrate 10, or sandwiched between layers of material that comprise one or more portions of the substrate 10.
The barrier 28 may be broken before a person's body is placed on the cooling assembly 3. Alternatively, the barrier 28 may be broken after a person's body is placed on the cooling assembly 3, or at the same time a person's body is placed on the cooling assembly 3. One method of breaking the barrier 28, in order to allow the reactant to mix with the water, is to apply pressure to the barrier 28. Pressure may be applied to the barrier 28 by placement of the body on the cooling device 25 or by force applied to the barrier 28 by a user, such as a doctor, nurse, emergency medical technician, or other medical provider. The barrier may be broken by increasing the pressure of side A relative to side B, or vice versa, by applying a force to one of side A or B. Alternatively, the barrier may be broken by applying pressure directly to the barrier 28.
The cooling assembly 3 may be fashioned as an overlay assembly for a gurney 5, as shown in
The wrap-around portions 16, 19 may be made from a flexible material so that they can be laid over a person who is on the cooling assembly 3. In this manner, the person's torso and arms may be cooled. In doing so, the person may be cooled more rapidly than otherwise would be the case. A suitable flexible material includes durable fabric, such as polyester; however, alternative fabrics, or combinations of fabrics may be used. For example, an insulating layer may be attached or sandwiched between a base layer. The insulating layer may be made from an insulating fabric such as a polyester/metalized polyester blend.
In use, a patient may be placed on a cooling assembly 3 that is sized to lay over a gurney 5. One or more cooling devices 25 may be activated on the body portion 13, for example by breaking a barrier 28 with the weight of a patient when a patient is placed on the cooling devices 25, to cause an endothermic reaction. The cooling devices 25 on the wrap around portions 16, 19, or 19′ may be activated by a medical provider prior to wrapping the wrap-around portions 16, 19, or 19′ around the patient to cool the patient's torso, or torso and arms. If the cooling assembly 3 includes side cooling flaps 31, the medical provider can wrap the side cooling flaps 31 around the patient's shoulder-area and place a cooling device 25 into the patient's armpit to cool the patient's armpit. Further, a medical provider may put a hood, which has a hood-cooling-device, on the patient's head to cool the patient's head.
Although embodiments of the invention have been described herein, the invention is not limited to such embodiments. The claims which follow are directed to the invention, and are intended to further describe the invention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/289,874, filed on Dec. 23, 2009.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61289874 | Dec 2009 | US |