The disclosure is directed to dermatomes for surgically harvesting grafts of skin. More particularly, the disclosure is directed to protective guard assemblies for dermatome blade assemblies.
Conventional dermatomes are used for cutting skin tissue to obtain transplantable skin grafts. A skin graft is a patch of healthy skin that is harvested from one area of the body or donor site to cover a damaged or skinless area of the body. Typically, a dermatome has a front end holding a flat blade to be placed in contact with a tissue surface and a motor to oscillate the blade from side to side to create a slicing action which cuts the tissue as the dermatome is moved along the tissue surface.
The disclosure is directed to several alternative designs, materials and methods of manufacturing medical device structures and assemblies. Although it is noted that conventional dermatomes exist, there exists a need for improvement on those devices.
Accordingly, one illustrative embodiment of the disclosure may include a dermatome having a blade assembly and a blade guard. The blade assembly may have a blade edge and the blade guard may include a fence extending from a base, where the fence may be configured to cover the blade edge. The blade guard may include at least one locator mechanism extending from the base in a similar direction as the fence, where the locator may be configured to communicate with the blade assembly and orient the blade guard with respect to the blade assembly. The attached blade assembly and blade guard may be mounted on a main body of a dermatome, after which the blade guard may be removed. At the same or another time, the blade guard may be reconnected to the blade assembly and the connected blade guard and blade assembly may be removed from the dermatome. Use of the blade guard may allow for handling of a blade assembly without the risk of an object coming into unintended contact with the blade edge.
The above summary of some example embodiments is not intended to describe each disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the disclosure.
The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
While the disclosure is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit aspects of the claimed disclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed disclosure.
For the following defined terms, these definitions shall be applied, unless a different definition is given in the claims or elsewhere in this specification.
All numeric values are herein assumed to be modified by the term “about”, whether or not explicitly indicated. The term “about” generally refers to a range of numbers that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited value (i.e., having the same function or result). In many instances, the term “about” may be indicative as including numbers that are rounded to the nearest significant figure.
The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers within that range (e.g., 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, and 5).
Although some suitable dimensions, ranges and/or values pertaining to various components, features and/or specifications are disclosed, one of skill in the art, incited by the present disclosure, would understand desired dimensions, ranges and/or values may deviate from those expressly disclosed.
As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” is generally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.
The following detailed description should be read with reference to the drawings in which similar elements in different drawings are numbered the same. The detailed description and the drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, depict illustrative embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure. The illustrative embodiments depicted are intended only as exemplary. Selected features of any illustrative embodiment may be incorporated into an additional embodiment unless clearly stated to the contrary.
The present disclosure relates to the subject matter filed by inventors Mark Mahaffey and Bruce Straslicka and contained in the U.S. patent application titled DERMATOME BLADE ASSEMBLY having attorney docket no. 1001.1004101 and the U.S. patent application titled DERMATOME WITH WIDTH PLATE CAPTURES having attorney docket no. 1001.1006101, both filed on Jul. 12, 2011, and which are both expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Referring to the Figures, dermatome 10 for harvesting grafts of skin tissue has a main body 12 connected to a handle 16, as seen in
Dermatome 10 may also include a blade protector or guard 50 capable of connecting to blade assembly 40 and preventing unintended contact with blade edge 43. Unintended contact with blade edge 43 may include, but is not limited to, contact with objects other than objects for which blade edge 43 is intended to contact. For example, when dermatome 10 is developed for use in skin graft transplant procedures, unintended contact may include all contact between objects and blade edge 43 other than contact between blade edge 43 and a patch of healthy skin that is to be harvested as a skin graft. Blade guard 50 may have a base 52 configured to face second side 40b of blade assembly 40 and a fence 54 that may extend from base 52 in a first direction D′. Fence 54 may take on any shape or size allowing blade guard 50 to connect to blade assembly 40. For example, fence 54 may be configured to address, abut, extend parallel to, or generally cover blade edge 43. In the example, blade edge 43 may have a first contour 20, such as a straight contour, and fence 54 may have a second contour 22, such as a straight contour, where second contour 22 may address first contour 20 when guard 50 is aligned or connected to blade assembly 40.
Blade guard 50 may also include at least one locator 58 extending from base 52 in first direction D′, as seen in
Blade guard locator 46 may be at least partially defined by blade assembly 40. Guard locator 46 may take on any shape and size. For example, as depicted in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, guard locator 46 may have at least one hole 47, where hole(s) 47 may be at least partially defined by blade mount 44 and may extend from second side 40b toward and/or to first side 40a. In the example, hole(s) 47 may be configured to engage or receive blade assembly locator(s) 58.
As seen in
As seen in the cross-sectional view of
Also shown in
Blade guard 50 may include stake receiving hole 62 extending through base 52. Hole 62 may be at least partially defined by base 52 of guard 50 and capable of receiving a button or stake 48 extending from blade assembly 40 in a second direction D″. Hole 62 may be positioned at any location on base 52 so as to be aligned with and configured to receive button or stake 48 extending from blade assembly 40. As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 3-7, hole 62 may be located substantially equidistant from connectors 60 or blade assembly locators 58, or both. Button or stake 48 may extend from blade assembly 40 toward blade guard 50 and blade guard 50 may be configured to receive stake 48 in stake receiving hole 62. Stake 48 may be utilized to make a permanent connection between blade 42 and blade mount 44 or it may be used for any other purpose or even excluded. Stake 48 may be positioned at any location along second side 40b of blade assembly 40 so as to be aligned with and configured to extend into and at least partially through hole 62 of blade guard 50. In the event stake or button 48 is excluded, hole 62 may be excluded or modified to accommodate a different mechanism connecting blade 42 and blade mount 44. As depicted in
As depicted in
As seen in
Blade guard 50, as depicted in
Connected guard 50 and blade assembly 40 may be mounted on main body 12 such that blade assembly 40 is placed substantially within bottom perimeter 19 and guard 50 extends within and outside of perimeter 19, where tabs 66 are positioned at least partially outside of perimeter 19. Tabs 66 may extend outside of perimeter 19 for any purpose. For example, tabs 66 may extend outside perimeter 19 to facilitate removing guard 50 from its connection with blade assembly 40 after placing blade assembly 40 in or on main body 12. In the example, when tabs 66 extend outside of perimeter 19, a force may be applied to tabs 66 in the general second direction D″, which may bend base 52 and connector(s) 60 and may cause connector(s) 60 to disconnect from first side 40a of blade assembly. The method of utilizing tabs 66 to remove guard 50 from blade assembly 40 may allow blade guard 50 to be peeled from the connection with blade assembly 40. Alternatively or in addition, tabs 66 may be utilized to remove guard 50 from blade assembly 40 through a sliding technique. For example, a force may be applied to tabs 66 in the general first direction D′ or by squeezing tabs 66 toward a center of base 50 and in the first direction D′ in order to deflect or bend base 52 to leave a clearance between first side 50a of guard 50 and button or stake 48. In the example, after the clearance is formed between button 48 and guard 50, guard 50 may be slid from engagement with blade assembly 40. In similar, but generally reversed techniques, tabs 66 may also assist in applying guard 50 to a mounted blade assembly 40 in order to remove a previously mounted blade assembly 40 from dermatome 10.
A method of operation S100, as depicted in
In some instances, once blade guard 50 has been removed from dermatome 10, a user may connect a width plate 30 to dermatome 10 with a fastener 32, as seen in
In fourth step S108, connected or reconnected blade guard 50 and blade assembly 40 may be removed from main body 12. Connected blade guard 50 and blade assembly 40 may be removed from main body 12 by lifting on tab 66 in second direction D″ or through any other technique. For example, another technique may include applying a pressure in second direction D″ to first side 40a of blade assembly 40 by inserting a tool through depressions 14 in main body 12 and contacting first side 40a. As blade edge 43 is guarded or blocked by fence 54, a user or object will not come into any unintended contact with blade edge 43 during mounting or removal of blade edge from dermatome 10. In addition, blade assembly 40 may be received and/or disposed of with blade guard 50 attached thereto, which further prevents any unintended contact with blade edge 43 prior to using blade assembly 40 with dermatome 10 or after blade assembly 40 is removed from dermatome 10.
The disclosed device and methods of using eliminate direct handling of an exposed blade edge 43 both before inserting the blade assembly 40 into dermatome 10 and when removing the inserted blade assembly 40 from dermatome 10. The protector or guard 50 device protects the blade edge 43 during sterilization, transportation, storage, insertion, removal and blade disposal. That is, the disclosed device allows the blade guard or protector 50 to stay attached to blade assembly 40 during handling and only needs to be removed after the blade assembly 40 has been correctly inserted into the dermatome device. Blade protector or guard 50 can be placed back over blade assembly 40 on main body 12 after blade assembly 40 is no longer needed and prior to its removal from main body 12. The attached blade protector or guard 50 may be disposed of with a spent or used blade assembly 40.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present disclosure may be manifested in a variety of forms other than the specific embodiments described and contemplated herein. Accordingly, departure in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure as described in the appended claims.
The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/180,977, filed Jul. 12, 2011, the entire contents of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13180977 | Jul 2011 | US |
Child | 14081204 | US |