Surgical drape and panel assembly

Abstract

A disposable surgical drape for use in cardiovascular surgical procedures which may optionally be used to isolate a sterile pumping mechanism from a non-sterile pump driving mechanism and/or provide support for medical equipment, such as medical tubing.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of co-pending patent application Ser. No. 10 / 445,639 filed 27 May 2003, which is a continuation of abandoned patent application Ser. No. 09 / 729,740 filed 4 Dec. 2000, which claims the benefit under Title 35, United States Code, §110(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 168,795 filed on Dec. 2, 1999 and entitled “Surgical Drape and Panel Assembly.”BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] I. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates generally to surgical drapes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disposable surgical drape for use in cardiovascular surgical procedures which advantageously maintains sterile and clean conditions at an operation site and may optionally be used to isolate a sterile pumping mechanism from a non-sterile pump driving mechanism and / or provide support for medical equipment used during cardiovascular procedures. [0004] II. Discussion of the Prior Art [0005] Surgica...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017] In one embodiment of the present invention, the surgical drape is designed such that it is to be disposed adjacent to the patient's head region. The surgical drape is sufficiently thin so as to allow the surgeon to couple a sterile blood pump to a non-sterile driving mechanism without interfering with the clamping mechanism.

[0018] In another embodiment the surgical drape further contains apertures which allow sterile materials to be passed through from the surgical site, to the non-sterile surgical site adjacent to the patient's head area. Thereby allowing a sterile pump to be placed closer to the surgical site while the non-sterile driving mechanism is placed outside the sterile surgical field. Thus further reducing the amount of foreign tubing used to connect ...

Problems solved by technology

The need for surgical drapes stems from the inherent risk for infection during surgical procedures.

More specifically, bacteria on the patient's skin and/or from unsterilized equipment may infect the surgical site.

However, bacteria may nonetheless pass through the fibers forming the cotton drape, and fibers may become detached from the drape, presenting the possibility for bacteria to enter the operative site.

While an improvement, these newer cotton-based surgical drapes were nonetheless flawed in that the finish loses its liquid repellant characteristics over time.

Another drawback to cotton-based surgical drapes is that they are predisposed to produce lint, which thereby provides a transport medium for the bacteria.

This additional medical tubing increases the priming volume of the CPB circuit and may also increase hemolysis based...

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