Patent Application
20220183475
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/125,519, filed Dec. 15, 2020. The disclosure set forth in the referenced application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Operating room (OR) table pads for supporting patients on an operating table during surgical procedures are known in the art. One objective for an OR table pad is to provide a stable support surface upon which the patient may remain substantially motionless during a surgical procedure. Another objective for an OR table pad is to provide a support surface that exerts pressure against the patient in a manner that mitigates the formation of decubitus ulcers (sometimes referred to as pressure ulcers) while the patient remains substantially motionless thereon for the duration of the surgical procedure. A further objective for an OR table pad is to provide a support surface that may be readily cleaned and disinfected so that the OR table pad may be used subsequently by another patient during another surgical procedure.
Known OR table pads often are embodied as one or more layers of dense, closed cell foam or similar materials. Such OR table pads may provide a stable support surface that is readily cleanable. Such OR table pads may be configured to redistribute loads exerted thereby against a patient lying thereon in an attempt to maintain contact pressure against the patient's skin at a pressure value lower than the vascular occlusion threshold (commonly regarded as about 0.5 psi). (Support surfaces that redistribute loads in such a manner sometimes are referred to as pressure redistribution surfaces.) Such OR table pads, however, may have limited efficacy in mitigating the formation of decubitus ulcers because they typically have limited ability to maintain contact pressures lower than the vascular occlusion threshold at all points of contact with the patient.
Some support surfaces attempt to mitigate this problem by providing a plurality of inflatable compartments that may be alternatingly inflated and deflated. The theory behind such support surfaces is that they alternatingly apply pressure to, and relieve pressure from, contact points with the patient's skin to mitigate the formation of decubitus ulcers. Such alternatingly inflatable pressure support surfaces, however, typically operate at inflation pressures of about the vascular occlusion threshold. As such, they typically have the effect of simply redistributing pressure applied by the support surface to the patient's skin. Accordingly, their ability to mitigate decubitus ulcers is limited. Also, many such alternatingly inflatable support surfaces involve substantial and periodic displacement of a user lying thereon as the inflatable compartments are alternatingly inflated and deflated. As suggested above, substantial displacement of a patient during a surgical procedure generally is deemed unacceptable. As such, typical alternatingly inflatable support surfaces are not suitable for use during surgical procedures.
A support surface overlay as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,216,122 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) includes alternatingly inflatable compartments defining contact nodes that may be configured to alternatingly apply pressure to and relieve pressure from a patient's skin in a manner that without substantial movement. Such a support surface overlay may be configured with alternatingly inflatable compartments that are selectively inflated to relatively high inflation pressures well above the vascular occlusion threshold, and that do not involve substantial displacement of a patient thereon as the alternatingly inflatable compartments are inflated and deflated. Such a support surface may effectively reduce pressure exerted against the user by the non-inflated compartment to a pressure lower than the vascular occlusion threshold. Such a support surface overlay sometimes is referred to as a point pressure surface overlay.
It may be advantageous in some circumstances to use such a point pressure support surface overlay in combination with an underlying redistribution support surface. Indeed, such point pressure support surface overlays sometimes are used atop a conventional OR table pad during surgical procedures.
One concern with using a point pressure support surface overlay atop a conventional OR table pad is that the support characteristics of a particular point pressure support surface overlay and a particular underlying OR table pad might not be particularly compatible. In other words, some point pressure support surface overlays might be more effective when used with certain underlying support surfaces than with others, and vice versa. As such, random combinations of point pressure support surface overlays and underlying OR table pads might yield support systems that do not mitigate formation of decubitus ulcers as well as others.
The present disclosure describes examples of an integrated user support system including a point pressure support surface overlay integrated with an underlying pressure redistribution surface.
For clarity, the drawings may show a gap between the support surface overlay 200 and the support surface 300. In practice, the support surface overlay 200 typically would be in contact with the support surface 300. Such contact may be direct or through an intervening layer of additional material (not shown). The support surface 300 may be embodied as an OR table pad, a bed mattress, a seat cushion, or any other structure that provides support to a user.
As best shown in
In other embodiments, the upper sheet 202, the lower sheet 204, and the seam 206 may cooperate to define more or fewer than two selectively inflatable compartments, each such selectively inflatable compartment defining corresponding selectively inflatable cells, and each such selectively inflatable cell defining a corresponding contact node.
The support surface overlay 200 also includes a first (or upper) cover sheet 222 overlying the upper sheet 202 of the bladder 208. The bladder 208 and the upper cover sheet 222 may be bonded together along at least portions thereof proximate the periphery of the bladder 208.
In embodiments, the support surface overlay 200 may also include a second (or lower) cover sheet 224 underlying the lower sheet 204 of the bladder 208. In such embodiments, the bladder 208, the upper cover sheet 222, and the lower cover sheet 224 may be bonded together along at least portions thereof proximate the periphery of the bladder 208.
In embodiments including the upper cover sheet 222 and the lower cover sheet 224, the upper cover sheet 222 and the lower cover sheet 224 may sometimes be referred to collectively as an envelope that encloses the bladder 208.
In embodiments, as will be discussed further below, either or both of the upper cover sheet 222 and the lower cover sheet 224 may be configured to: (a) permanently or removably encompass the support surface 300; (b) be permanently or removably attached to the support surface 300; or (c) permanently or removably encompass the support surface 300 and be permanently or removably attached to the support surface 300.
That is, the upper cover sheet 222 extends about and encloses the upper face 302, a lower face 304, and side faces 306 of the support surface 300. In some embodiments, the upper cover sheet 222 may enclose less than the entirety of the support surface 300. For example, the upper cover sheet 222 may enclose the entirety of the upper face 302 and the side faces 306 of the support surface 300, but less than the entirety of the lower face 304 of the support surface 300.
In embodiments wherein the upper or lower cover sheet 222, 224 completely encloses the support surface 300, such enclosure may be permanent. In embodiments, the upper or lower cover sheet 222, 224 may hermetically enclose the support surface 300. Alternatively, such enclosure may be removable. For example, the upper or lower cover sheet 222, 224 may define an opening through which the support surface 300 may be inserted or removed. Such opening may be closable by any suitable means, for example without limitation, a zipper, buttons, hook-and-loop fasteners, and a labyrinth arrangement.
As shown in
In embodiments wherein the lower cover sheet 224 is omitted, the upper face 302 of the support surface 300 may be selected to provide a suitable reaction force to resist deformation in response to pressure imparted thereto by the support surface overlay 200 when the bladder 208 thereof is inflated and a user is disposed thereon, so that the upper face 302 of the support surface 300 does not closely conform to the lower sheet 204 of the bladder 208. For example, the upper face 302 of the support surface 300 may be made of a material, for example, a material typically used in the construction of parachutes, that resists elastic stretching when subjected to a load perpendicular thereto as would occur when the bladder 208 of the support surface overlay 200 thereon is inflated with a user disposed thereon so that the upper face 302 of the support surface 300 does not closely conform to the lower sheet 204 of the bladder 208.
Terms of orientation, for example, upper, lower, top, bottom, and the like, as used herein should be construed in a relative and not absolute sense unless context clearly dictates otherwise.
The embodiments shown and described herein are illustrative and should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention as may be claimed herein or in any related application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63125519 | Dec 2020 | US |
