Vacuum assisted wound dressing

Abstract

Apparatus for the application of topical negative pressure therapy to a wound site is described, the apparatus comprising: a wound contacting element for retaining wound exudate fluid therein; a wound covering element that provides a substantially airtight seal over the wound contacting element and wound site; a vacuum connection tube connecting a wound cavity to a vacuum source; and a vacuum source connected to a distal end of the vacuum connection tube.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a U.S. National Phase of the PCT International Application No. PCT / GB2008 / 051088 filed on Nov. 20, 2008, designating the United States and published on May 28, 2009 as WO 2009 / 066104, which claims priority to Great Britain Patent Application No. 0722820.8, filed Nov. 21, 2007. The disclosure of these prior applications is incorporated by reference in their entirety and should be considered a part of this specification.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a topical negative pressure (TNP) assisted wound dressing particularly, though not exclusively, for the treatment of wounds of relatively low area and / or relatively low volume. [0004] The subject of this invention is an apparatus for the management of small to medium sized wounds that utilises a vacuum source but manages wound exudate in a traditional manner by utilising an absorbent self-cohesive materi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] An object of the present invention is to overcome or reduce the limitations of the prior art for the management of wounds of low surface area, particularly those below approximately 200 cm2 or internal volumes below 1000 cm3, while not resorting to the exclusive use of traditional absorbent dressings. A further object of the present invention is to overcome or minimise the problem of vacuum device portability.

[0014] A particular advantage of the apparatus according to the present invention is that confinement of wound fluid to the immediate vicinity of the wound enables the provision of an extremely small and light and consequently highly portable vacuum source and a convenient simple coupling and decoupling means of the vacuum source to the wound site dressing and which overcome significant limitations in the usability and portability of prior art apparatus.

[0018] When an absorbent material is included in the wound contacting element, the absorbent material not necessarily acting as a fluid transport blocking element, the material may preferably be capable of absorbing more than 5-times its own weight in fluid, more preferably more than 10-times its own weight in fluid and more preferably still more that 15-times its own weight in fluid. Such high w / w fluid absorbency may be desirable so that the wound can be initially dressed with a low weight material thereby reducing stress on the wound and the patient.

Problems solved by technology

However, for wounds of surface area below approximately 200 cm2 or internal volumes below about 1000 cm3 these solutions may not be the most appropriate since exudate volumes and exudate rates from these wounds may be managed by more traditional wound dressings, requiring dressing change every 3-7 days.

The relatively small dimensions of such wounds do not make them attractive for the traditional TNP therapies disclosed in the prior art; these devices typically including a remote vacuum source, fluid transfer lumen and remote fluid collection receptacle, control and power source and are of dimensions and weight exceeding those convenient or discrete for the patient to carry.

To facilitate fluid flow, a hydrophobic filling has been deemed particularly desirable by workers in the field and absorbent fillers as being particularly undesirable due to their hindering fluid transport.

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