Patent Application
20150119650
The present invention relates to the field of surgical incision, excision and biopsy instruments. In particular, this invention relates to a surgical scalpel handle with an illuminator allowing the surgeon to use the scalpel to illuminate a surgical field immediately adjacent to and in advance of the blade and in the direction of cutting.
The present invention relates to the field of surgical incision, excision and biopsy instruments. In particular, this invention relates to a surgical scalpel handle with an illuminator allowing the surgeon to use the scalpel handle to illuminate a surgical field immediately adjacent to and in advance of the blade and in the direction of cutting.
Physicians and surgeons use a scalpel handle to attach to a blade to cut human tissue for a variety of purposes.
Illuminating a surgical field in tight small spaces of the human body and immediately in front of a scalpel blade is challenging for a surgeon.
In the art, many sources of illumination are used. Typical Illumination is provided via an illuminator source attached to surgeon's headset, or held by a surgical assistant, attached to overhead ceiling, or provided using a lamp on wheels in the operating suite and this well known to the art. Prior art devices include clip-on LED lights and incandescent lamps for headwear, glasses with LED light sources with built in with batteries and hand held devices. Such constructions may be seen in U.S. Pat. No 6,483,651, U.S. Pat. No 6,733,150, U.S. Pat. No 6,999,248 B2 and U.S. Pat. No 7,566,139.
The limitations of the prior art is that none of the existing methods provide illumination immediately adjacent to the scalpel blade and thus the illuminated field is not optimized visually putting at risk unnecessary damage and severing of difficult to visualize neurovascular structures.
Additional limitations are that the sources of illumination frequently require an assistant to hold the source of illumination requiring additional cost to the surgery or hindrance to the surgeon by crowding the surgical field.
Additional limitations to illuminating a surgical field are that most sources require an additional power source that must be attached to either a battery pack or a plug for power. This limitation is also a hindrance to the surgeon in that the surgeon must work around these additional attachments and they are often obtrusive and limiting in portability and mobility. Additional disadvantages of the existing illumination sources are the significant cost and resources necessary to install illumination into outpatient exam rooms.
Accordingly, a methodology which overcomes the shortcomings of prior art is desired.
It is the object of the invention to provide a scalpel handle with an attachable light emitting diode (LED) cartridge containing a series of LED bulbs which can illuminate relatively uniformly the surgical field and can be manufactured relatively readily, and inexpensively.
It is the object of the invention to provide a scalpel handle with an attachable light emitting diode (LED) cartridge containing a series of LED bulbs which can illuminate relatively uniformly the surgical field immediately adjacent to and in front of a surgical blade without shadow from the blade and can be manufactured relatively readily, and inexpensively.
The various features of the present invention and the manner of attaining them will be described in greater detail with reference to the following description, claims, drawings, wherein reference numerals are reused, where appropriate to indicate a correspondence between the referenced items, and wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention will herein after be described in conjunction with appended drawings to illustrate and not to limit the invention wherein like designations denote like elements and in which:
In
Prior to surgery, the LED cartridge 22 is screwed onto barrel 10 by sliding the bayonet fitting through central axis tubing 24 of LED cartridge 22 and enabling said unit to be tightened on to strut 18 of barrel 10 by twisting clockwise to matching threads. Finally, a surgical blade may then be attached to the bayonet fitting as is done commonly in the art.
In ordinary state without necessity of illuminating, the LED cartridge 22 provides that the anode conducting wire 34 is always connected to the anode side of the light bulb 32 on one end and the anode side of battery 40 on the other end while cathode conducting wire 36 is connected to the cathode side of bulb 32 on the one end and the battery holder 46 made of electrically conducive material on the other end. A thin sheet of non conducive material 38 is seen sandwiched between battery holder 46 and anode side of battery 40 to prevent contact and illumination. When a surgeon wants to illuminate the surgical field while cutting, the surgeon can remove the non conducive material 38 by gently sliding it free through the slit 48 and discarding said material enabling contact between cathode conducting wire 36 attached battery holder 46 and cathode side of battery 40 and completing circuit to illuminate the surgical field.
After surgery is complete, if the surgical handle described herein is made of disposable material it may be disposed of in its entirety. If the surgical handle described herein is made of non-disposable material, than as is commonly done in the art, the blade will be removed from the bayonet fitting and then the LED cartridge 22 may be twisted off and disposed of while the remaining surgical scalpel handle may be properly sterilized prior to next use.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that provides illumination immediately adjacent to and in front of a surgical blade.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with an attachable light emitting diode cartridge which can illuminate uniformly the immediately adjacent surgical field without shadowing effects from the scalpel blade.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination using the handle as a source of illumination and removing the need for additional personnel to hold a separate lamp or require additional lamps in the exam room.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination using a dry battery and avoid the need for power cords that may restrict the movement of the surgeon or staff around the surgical field.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination that can be manufactured relatively easily and inexpensively.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a reusable non-disposable surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with a disposable attachable light emitting cartridge that can be replaced with a new disposable attachable light emitting cartridge.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable surgical scalpel handle that can provide illumination with a disposable attachable light emitting cartridge that can be disposed in the attached condition in their entirety after surgery.
U.S. Pat. No 6,483,651, U.S. Pat. No 6,733,150, U.S. Pat. No 6,999,248 B2 and U.S. Pat. No 7,566,139.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described in reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it would be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention encompassed by the impended claims. Although the embodiments have been described in reference to a scalpel handle with an illuminator, the present invention may also apply to any surgical instrument or device, or any medical device, that would require illumination immediately adjacent to and in advance of the device in order that said device may be used on or in the body for treating, excising, incising or diagnosing including but not limited to surgical laser instruments, endoscopes, curettes, surgical wire instruments, scalpels, and other surgical instruments. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitution and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims.
