Patent Application
20190015174
The present invention relates to a surgical marking system, and in particular, to a surgical marking system including a rectangular-shaped housing having a arrow-head point attached to x-ray opaque metallic ruler and further containing a fluoroscopically visible marking agent to mark, measure, and identify anatomical landmarks on a patient's skin in preparation of a surgical procedure.
Surgical marking pens have been used for decades in the United States. The pens are primarily used by a surgeon or surgical technician to mark the incision location on the patient's body to determine where and how long the cut is to be made during a surgical procedure. These marking lines are very important in specialties such as orthopedic or plastic surgery where uniform and linear marking are essential to surgical success.
Most commonly, a surgeon or nurse will use a felt tip pen to place a circle or small lines at the incision location indicating where and how long the cut is to be made. However, if the pen is applied too firmly or the skin of the patient (i.e., tissue surface) is moist, the marker will likely “bleed” after being applied. Further, during the surgical procedure blood may run onto the mark which is then wiped, possibly eliminating any indication of where the mark was originally applied.
In addition, many of these marking pens are used only once and thrown out because of the risk of contaminates or because they are left uncovered and dry out. In many cases, the surgical staff is forced to improvise by wetting the marker tip during surgery which often leads to contamination or blurring pre-selected surgical marking when re-applied to the patient's skin.
Though there are several references which disclose a surgical marking pen such as U.S. PAT. App. No 2008/0269694 to Viscot Medical, LLC; U.S. Pat. App. No. 2008/0287978 to Hickham; and U.S. Pat. App. No. 2010/0292714 to Shah; there is no single apparatus or system which includes a metallic measuring means about the exterior surface while further containing a marking agent or pointer which is visible on a fluoroscopic X-ray.
The embodiments provided disclose a fluoroscopic surgical marking system for use in preparation of a surgical procedure to place a thin uniformly applied fluoroscopic marking agent on the patient's skin, and provide measurements of internal anatomical structures, which are visible on x-ray images. The system includes: a rectangular-shaped housing configured to provide to a stable base when placed on a patient's body between markings; a pen cap at the first end to prevent the ink reservoir from drying out and provide a sterile environment when hermetically sealed onto the first end of the housing; and an ink reservoir contained within the housing and filled with a fluoroscopic marking agent.
The system further includes an arrow-head pointer located on an exterior portion of a tapered surface at the first end of the housing to identify and emphasize specific anatomical landmark along the patient's body and provide accurate x-ray visible measurements critical during the perioperative phases. Further, located adjacent to the arrow-head marking tip (i.e., pointer) is a felt tip marker which allows the patient's skin to be marked with a fluoroscopic marking agent contained within the ink reservoir.
A more complete understanding of the embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
The specific details of the single embodiment or variety of embodiments described herein are set forth in this application. Any specific details of the embodiments are used for demonstration purposes only, and no unnecessary limitation or inferences are to be understood therefrom. Furthermore, as used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship, or order between such entities or elements.
The embodiments provide a surgical marking and measurement system which allows surgeons and surgical staff to measure and mark a patient's skin in preparation of a surgical procedure. The system 10 includes an arrow-head pointer affixed on the exterior surface of a taper portion of the first end of the housing and continuing along the planar rectangular-shaped housing with pre-determined galvanized incremental metallic marking throughout the length of the housing. Further contained with the hollow housing is an ink reservoir which contains a fluoroscopic marking agent which enables a surgeon to uniform apply the marking agent along the patient's skin without the blurring found with traditional surgical marking devices.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the views. There is shown in
The rectangular-shaped housing 12 is specifically formed with the intent to enable the surgeon to rest the system 10 on patient body between uses during a surgical procedure with rolling on the floor and accumulating contaminates. The rectangular-shaped housing 16 includes a first exterior surface 16 having an exterior ruler 19 extending the length of the housing which allows surgeons to measure exterior landmarks along the patients skin which are not intended to be visible on an x-ray image. Further located at the first end of the rectangular-shaped housing 26 is the tapered first end 18 which is downwardly angled from the planar surface of the rectangular-shaped housing 27 to a dimensioned aperture 20 proportioned to fit the apex of a felt tip pen 39 to protrude outwardly from the ink reservoir 24 and selectively mark the patient's body with the fluoroscopic marking agent 22.
It is contemplated the rectangular-shaped housing 12 is approximately 6-8 inches in length, one inch wide, and has a ½ inch height and ergonomically dimensioned be held in a surgeon's hand in a similar manner as a traditional writing instrument. It is contemplated the system 10 material such as a plastic or thermoplastic which is designed to delivered in a sterile packaging to the operating room in anticipation of a medical procedure.
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The metallic ruler 14 is further includes arrow-head pointer tip 28 at the tapered first end 18 which is visible in x-ray images and used to emphasize and distinguish a specific landmark. Contrary to current paper measuring devices susceptible to tearing or binding when wet, the metallic ruler 14 is contained within the hollow interior portion 15 and which is hermetically sealed from any water, perspiration, or blood which may obstruct an incremental reading.
Further illustrated in
The ink reservoir 24 is located within a grooved portion of the metallic ruler 33 at the rear of the arrow-head pointer tip 28 and nuzzled between the grooved portion of the metallic ruler 33 and a vertical partition 34 which extends the length of the rectangular-shaped housing 12.
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It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present embodiment is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the following claims.
