CA1144354A - Surgical sponge with visible marker - Google Patents
Surgical sponge with visible markerInfo
- Publication number
- CA1144354A CA1144354A CA000348681A CA348681A CA1144354A CA 1144354 A CA1144354 A CA 1144354A CA 000348681 A CA000348681 A CA 000348681A CA 348681 A CA348681 A CA 348681A CA 1144354 A CA1144354 A CA 1144354A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- sponge
- zone
- blood
- repellent
- water
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Landscapes
- Materials For Medical Uses (AREA)
Abstract
Abstract of the Disclosure A surgical sponge having at least one localized surface zone which is repellent to blood to provide a readily visible indicator contrasting in color to the remainder of the sponge after impregnation with blood.
Description
This invention relates to a surgical sponge comprising a material absorptive of blood having a readily visible indicator contrasting in color to the remainder of the sponge after impregnatio~n with blood and pertains more specifically to such a sponge in which the indicator is in the form of a surface zone of the sponge which is repellent to blood and to a method of making it~
Surgical sponges are widely used in surgery to soal; up blood resulting from hemorrhage. When in use, such sponges, after impregnation with blood, resemble very closely in appearance and feel the-bodily tissues adjacent which they are used; consequently, they are very nearly invisible when in a body cavity which has been opened by surgical incision and are easily overlooked when closing the incision. If not removed, the presence of such a sponge leads to complications including rejection reactions requiring reopening of the incision.
Operating room procedures have been developed to ~minimi~e the risk of failing to remove such sponges, and in addition, visible markers in the form of distinct colored or reflective ribbons woven into or otherwise affixed to the surface of the sponge have been employed as indicators to enhance the visibility of the sponge. As extra insurance, impregnated threads or cords and other markers opaque to X-rays have been incorporated in such sponges so that if they are inadvertently left within the body, their presence can be detected after closing the incision. These markers, whether visible to the eye or opaque to X-rays or both, have suffered from the dis-.
~ L4~5~
~dvantage that they change the hand or feel of the sponge and that they increase the complexity and cost of the manufacturing procedure to affix them to the sponge to provide maximum effective-ness.
The present invention provides a surgical sponge comprising a material absorptive of blood, at least one external surface of the sponge having at least one localized zone which is repellent to blood,.the total area of said zones being not over ; 50~ of the total external surface area of said sponge, to provide an indicator which, after impregnation with blGod, is readily visible in that it is contrasting in color to the remainder of said sponge. Such a sponge can readily be manufactured at little cost simply by applying to a localized zone or zones of the sponge j during or after conventional manufacturing operations a conven-tional water-repellent agent such as a fluorocarbon or silicone textile finish water-repellent agent; the application of such an agent renders that portion of the sponge repellent to blood as ,, I
well as to water, causing it to retain its original color, usually white, after immersion in blood, in contrast to the remainder of the sponge which acquires the color of the blood with which it is soaked. Until use, however, the sponge of this in-vention is identical in appearance, feel and hand to the sponge before application of the water-repellent agent. While as a matter of convenience, because of ready commercial availability of a variety of textile finish water-repellent agents, these ma-terials can be employed to treat surgical sponges to form blood repellent zones, it will be appreciated that because the surface ~7 ~
~14~S~
tension of blood is less than that of water there can exist treating materials or treatments which render the sponge surface 8 Lo ~ D
jJ~ repellent to b~4e~ but not repellent to-~atcr. Any treatment which produces on the sponge surface a zone having a critical surface tension less than that of blood (60 dynes/c~.) as determined by a Zisman plot, so that the contact angle of the blood with the zone is greater than 90, can be used in practicing the present invention.
The zone which is repellent to blood retains its original color, usually white, in sharp contrast to the blood-impregnated remainder which is indistinguishable from tissue. It is desirable that the area of the blood-repellent zones not exceed 50~ of the total in order to retain the primary function Il of the sponge, the absorption of blood; preferably the area of 15 il the blood-repellent zones does not exceed 20% of the totai area.
Ii The sponge may consist of a single layer of absorptive material, ¦l or it can have two or more layers as in the case of a sponae made ,I by the usual process of folding upon itself a length of gauze or jl other absorbent material or ~f non-woven fabric to form a pad 20 1l having four to 50 or more layers. Any conventional fibers such as cotton, rayon, polyester or polypropylene having a hydrophilic surface, or blends of such fibers capable of being wetted ky blood can be used in the fabric.
, Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing and from the description which follows.
In the drawing, Fig. 1 is an isometric view showing a sponge which is one embodiment of the invention;
11~4354 I, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sponge of Fig. 1 in unfolded condition;
~¦ Fig. 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the ~ invention;
Fig. 4 is a plan view, partly broken away, showing a third embodiment; and ~igs. 5 and 6 are plan views showing still other embodiments.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, surgical sponge lO consists of a length of woven cotton gauze folded upon itself to form a 4-ply product. To zone 12 defined by the broken lines extending across the mid-portion of the face of the sponge in the form of a band or stripe having an area approximately l/5th of the total area of the outer faces of the sponge is applied a fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent agent such as an aqueous dispersion of fluoropolymer sold as Zonyl NWG or NWK (a trademark of du Pont) or Zepel-B (a trademark of du Pont); if desired, an aqueous dispersion of a hydrophobic thermosetting resin such as that sold under the trademark Sunsize 16 (Sun Chemical Corp.) may be used in conjunction with the fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent agent simply by mixing the aqueous dispersions ¦together in any desired proportions. The water-repellent agent can be applied to zone 12 by any convenient process, for example, by printing or spraying the aqueous dispersion upon the desired zone. Preferably, the water-repellent agent is ¦applied to the zone in such manner as to penetrate completely through the sponge so that each of the plies of the sponge is treated. The treated 114~.~5~
s~onqe preferahly is heated to an elevated temperature, such as at 300F. for 1 minute or at hiqher temperatures for shorter times, to properly orient the molecules, e.g., the fluoro-chemical molecules, of the repellent agent on the sponge material;
when a thermosetting resin is applied as part of the treatment, the heating step serves also to cure the resin to thermoset condition. The amount of fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent a~ent applied can vary considerably; in general, amounts from 0.1 to 3% by weight based on the dry weight of the sponge within the treated zone 12 are effective. The water-repellent agent is preferably applied in the form of an a~ueous dispersion containing from 10-50% solids by weight. If desired, thickening agents can be incorporated in the dispersion to minimize spreading ~ or wicking of the dispersion before drying and to confine it to the desired zone.
i The water-repellent agent is applied so as to penetrate j completely through all plies of the sponge of Fig. 1 so that when it is unfolded, as shown in Fig. 2, then refolded to a different size or configuration, a practice which commonly occurs during use of the sponge in surgery, at least a portion of the zone will appear on the outer face of the sponge no matter what refolding pattern is adopted. A radiopa~ue element in the form of a cord or thread 14 suitably impregnated can be incorporated in the usual manner in a fold of the sponge.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, sponge 16 consists of a felted web of cotton fibers folded upon itself to provide a multiple ply sponge. In this embodiment, the zone 18 treated with water-repellent agent is disposed along one margin of the S folded sponge and extends through a:Ll of the plies or layers of the web. The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is like that of Fig. 3 except that the sponge is formed of a multiple ply folded web of carded rayon fibers 20; in this embodiment also the blood repellent zone 22 extends along one margin only of the folded sponge.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, the sponge consists of multiple layers of gauze, but in this embodiment the blood repellent zone 24 is in the form of a zig-zag or serpentine stripe ' which extends through all of the layers of the sponge.
lS I In the embodiment of Fig. 6, the sponge is like that of Fig. 1 except that there are provided several separate, spaced blood repellent zones 26, 26 in the form of polka dots which extend completely through the multiple layers or plies of the sponge, thus providing a pattern of relatively small individual spaced 114'~
zones, at least one of which will be visible on the outer face of the sponge no matter how it is folded or refolded or wadded up during use. Surgical sponges made in accordance with the present inventio~ as described above, display no increase in Primary skin irritation as compared to conventional sponges when tested on !~ rabbits, and saline extracts of sponges of the present invention display no intradermal irritation when injected into rabbits.
j Implantation into rabbit muscle of cotton fibers rendered blood-' repellent as described above produced no visible reaction different 10 , from untreated fibers.
It will be apparent that the water-repellent agent may be applied to the sponge after the fabric web has been folded into j final configuration, or it can be applied to the fabric web 1 before folding or pl~ing up. Other conventional textile water- ;
15 1! repellent agents such as silicone emulsions can be employed in similar fashion. The silicone water-repellent agents require heating for a period of 3 to 5 minutes at an elevated temperature of the order of 160C. in order to cure the agent on the fabric (~ i .B~o~D
and develop the ~cr-repellency, although cure cycles with 20 1¦ other temperatures and times can be used.
During use of the sponges of the present invention, the treated zones of the sponges are repellent to blood and retain their pristine whiteness even when immersed in blood, forming a readily visible marker which is in sharp contrast to the red coloration of the remainder of the sponge which renders the latter virtually indistinguishable from tissue to the naked eye.
Despite this marked difference in appearance, however, the sponges of the present invention possess the same hand and feel throughout .
_ ~ _ 114~,~5~
the entire extent of the s~onge, so that they can readily be refolded or wadded up for use in the same manner as conventional sponges without any loss of the distinguishing marking feature.
What is claimed is:
1, .
' ' .
Surgical sponges are widely used in surgery to soal; up blood resulting from hemorrhage. When in use, such sponges, after impregnation with blood, resemble very closely in appearance and feel the-bodily tissues adjacent which they are used; consequently, they are very nearly invisible when in a body cavity which has been opened by surgical incision and are easily overlooked when closing the incision. If not removed, the presence of such a sponge leads to complications including rejection reactions requiring reopening of the incision.
Operating room procedures have been developed to ~minimi~e the risk of failing to remove such sponges, and in addition, visible markers in the form of distinct colored or reflective ribbons woven into or otherwise affixed to the surface of the sponge have been employed as indicators to enhance the visibility of the sponge. As extra insurance, impregnated threads or cords and other markers opaque to X-rays have been incorporated in such sponges so that if they are inadvertently left within the body, their presence can be detected after closing the incision. These markers, whether visible to the eye or opaque to X-rays or both, have suffered from the dis-.
~ L4~5~
~dvantage that they change the hand or feel of the sponge and that they increase the complexity and cost of the manufacturing procedure to affix them to the sponge to provide maximum effective-ness.
The present invention provides a surgical sponge comprising a material absorptive of blood, at least one external surface of the sponge having at least one localized zone which is repellent to blood,.the total area of said zones being not over ; 50~ of the total external surface area of said sponge, to provide an indicator which, after impregnation with blGod, is readily visible in that it is contrasting in color to the remainder of said sponge. Such a sponge can readily be manufactured at little cost simply by applying to a localized zone or zones of the sponge j during or after conventional manufacturing operations a conven-tional water-repellent agent such as a fluorocarbon or silicone textile finish water-repellent agent; the application of such an agent renders that portion of the sponge repellent to blood as ,, I
well as to water, causing it to retain its original color, usually white, after immersion in blood, in contrast to the remainder of the sponge which acquires the color of the blood with which it is soaked. Until use, however, the sponge of this in-vention is identical in appearance, feel and hand to the sponge before application of the water-repellent agent. While as a matter of convenience, because of ready commercial availability of a variety of textile finish water-repellent agents, these ma-terials can be employed to treat surgical sponges to form blood repellent zones, it will be appreciated that because the surface ~7 ~
~14~S~
tension of blood is less than that of water there can exist treating materials or treatments which render the sponge surface 8 Lo ~ D
jJ~ repellent to b~4e~ but not repellent to-~atcr. Any treatment which produces on the sponge surface a zone having a critical surface tension less than that of blood (60 dynes/c~.) as determined by a Zisman plot, so that the contact angle of the blood with the zone is greater than 90, can be used in practicing the present invention.
The zone which is repellent to blood retains its original color, usually white, in sharp contrast to the blood-impregnated remainder which is indistinguishable from tissue. It is desirable that the area of the blood-repellent zones not exceed 50~ of the total in order to retain the primary function Il of the sponge, the absorption of blood; preferably the area of 15 il the blood-repellent zones does not exceed 20% of the totai area.
Ii The sponge may consist of a single layer of absorptive material, ¦l or it can have two or more layers as in the case of a sponae made ,I by the usual process of folding upon itself a length of gauze or jl other absorbent material or ~f non-woven fabric to form a pad 20 1l having four to 50 or more layers. Any conventional fibers such as cotton, rayon, polyester or polypropylene having a hydrophilic surface, or blends of such fibers capable of being wetted ky blood can be used in the fabric.
, Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawing and from the description which follows.
In the drawing, Fig. 1 is an isometric view showing a sponge which is one embodiment of the invention;
11~4354 I, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sponge of Fig. 1 in unfolded condition;
~¦ Fig. 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the ~ invention;
Fig. 4 is a plan view, partly broken away, showing a third embodiment; and ~igs. 5 and 6 are plan views showing still other embodiments.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, surgical sponge lO consists of a length of woven cotton gauze folded upon itself to form a 4-ply product. To zone 12 defined by the broken lines extending across the mid-portion of the face of the sponge in the form of a band or stripe having an area approximately l/5th of the total area of the outer faces of the sponge is applied a fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent agent such as an aqueous dispersion of fluoropolymer sold as Zonyl NWG or NWK (a trademark of du Pont) or Zepel-B (a trademark of du Pont); if desired, an aqueous dispersion of a hydrophobic thermosetting resin such as that sold under the trademark Sunsize 16 (Sun Chemical Corp.) may be used in conjunction with the fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent agent simply by mixing the aqueous dispersions ¦together in any desired proportions. The water-repellent agent can be applied to zone 12 by any convenient process, for example, by printing or spraying the aqueous dispersion upon the desired zone. Preferably, the water-repellent agent is ¦applied to the zone in such manner as to penetrate completely through the sponge so that each of the plies of the sponge is treated. The treated 114~.~5~
s~onqe preferahly is heated to an elevated temperature, such as at 300F. for 1 minute or at hiqher temperatures for shorter times, to properly orient the molecules, e.g., the fluoro-chemical molecules, of the repellent agent on the sponge material;
when a thermosetting resin is applied as part of the treatment, the heating step serves also to cure the resin to thermoset condition. The amount of fluorocarbon textile finish water-repellent a~ent applied can vary considerably; in general, amounts from 0.1 to 3% by weight based on the dry weight of the sponge within the treated zone 12 are effective. The water-repellent agent is preferably applied in the form of an a~ueous dispersion containing from 10-50% solids by weight. If desired, thickening agents can be incorporated in the dispersion to minimize spreading ~ or wicking of the dispersion before drying and to confine it to the desired zone.
i The water-repellent agent is applied so as to penetrate j completely through all plies of the sponge of Fig. 1 so that when it is unfolded, as shown in Fig. 2, then refolded to a different size or configuration, a practice which commonly occurs during use of the sponge in surgery, at least a portion of the zone will appear on the outer face of the sponge no matter what refolding pattern is adopted. A radiopa~ue element in the form of a cord or thread 14 suitably impregnated can be incorporated in the usual manner in a fold of the sponge.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, sponge 16 consists of a felted web of cotton fibers folded upon itself to provide a multiple ply sponge. In this embodiment, the zone 18 treated with water-repellent agent is disposed along one margin of the S folded sponge and extends through a:Ll of the plies or layers of the web. The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is like that of Fig. 3 except that the sponge is formed of a multiple ply folded web of carded rayon fibers 20; in this embodiment also the blood repellent zone 22 extends along one margin only of the folded sponge.
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, the sponge consists of multiple layers of gauze, but in this embodiment the blood repellent zone 24 is in the form of a zig-zag or serpentine stripe ' which extends through all of the layers of the sponge.
lS I In the embodiment of Fig. 6, the sponge is like that of Fig. 1 except that there are provided several separate, spaced blood repellent zones 26, 26 in the form of polka dots which extend completely through the multiple layers or plies of the sponge, thus providing a pattern of relatively small individual spaced 114'~
zones, at least one of which will be visible on the outer face of the sponge no matter how it is folded or refolded or wadded up during use. Surgical sponges made in accordance with the present inventio~ as described above, display no increase in Primary skin irritation as compared to conventional sponges when tested on !~ rabbits, and saline extracts of sponges of the present invention display no intradermal irritation when injected into rabbits.
j Implantation into rabbit muscle of cotton fibers rendered blood-' repellent as described above produced no visible reaction different 10 , from untreated fibers.
It will be apparent that the water-repellent agent may be applied to the sponge after the fabric web has been folded into j final configuration, or it can be applied to the fabric web 1 before folding or pl~ing up. Other conventional textile water- ;
15 1! repellent agents such as silicone emulsions can be employed in similar fashion. The silicone water-repellent agents require heating for a period of 3 to 5 minutes at an elevated temperature of the order of 160C. in order to cure the agent on the fabric (~ i .B~o~D
and develop the ~cr-repellency, although cure cycles with 20 1¦ other temperatures and times can be used.
During use of the sponges of the present invention, the treated zones of the sponges are repellent to blood and retain their pristine whiteness even when immersed in blood, forming a readily visible marker which is in sharp contrast to the red coloration of the remainder of the sponge which renders the latter virtually indistinguishable from tissue to the naked eye.
Despite this marked difference in appearance, however, the sponges of the present invention possess the same hand and feel throughout .
_ ~ _ 114~,~5~
the entire extent of the s~onge, so that they can readily be refolded or wadded up for use in the same manner as conventional sponges without any loss of the distinguishing marking feature.
What is claimed is:
1, .
' ' .
Claims (9)
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A surgical sponge comprising a material absorptive of blood, at least one external surface of said sponge having at least one localized zone which is repellent to blood, the total area of said zones being not over 50% of the total external surface area of said sponge to provide an indicator which, after impregnation with blood, is contrasting in color to the remainder of said sponge, said sponge having the same hand and feel throughout its entire extent.
2. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which the total area of said zones is from 1 to 20% of the total area of said sponge.
3. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which said zone comprises a fluorocarbon water-repellent agent.
4. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which said zone comprises a silicone water-repellent agent.
5. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which said sponge comprises a plurality of layers of said material and each said layer comprises at least one said localized zone.
6. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which said zone is in the form of a stripe along one margin of said sponge.
7. A sponge as claimed in claim 1 in which said zone is in the form of several separate, spaced blood repellent zones.
8. A method of making a sponge as claimed in claim 1 which comprises treating at least one localized zone of an external surface of a surgical sponge to render said surface zone repellent to blood.
9. A method as claimed in claim 8 in which said treatment comprises applying to said surface zone a textile finish water-repellent agent.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US4344079A | 1979-05-29 | 1979-05-29 | |
| US43,440 | 1979-05-29 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1144354A true CA1144354A (en) | 1983-04-12 |
Family
ID=21927187
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000348681A Expired CA1144354A (en) | 1979-05-29 | 1980-03-28 | Surgical sponge with visible marker |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1144354A (en) |
Cited By (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1989005449A1 (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-06-15 | Cukier Daniel S | Apparel having a breach indicator |
| US4910803A (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1990-03-27 | Cukier Daniel S | Apparel having a breach indicator |
| WO2013041976A1 (en) * | 2011-02-14 | 2013-03-28 | Braga Carlo | Surgical pad |
-
1980
- 1980-03-28 CA CA000348681A patent/CA1144354A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1989005449A1 (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-06-15 | Cukier Daniel S | Apparel having a breach indicator |
| US4843014A (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1989-06-27 | Cukier Daniel S | Apparel having a breach indicator |
| US4910803A (en) * | 1987-12-02 | 1990-03-27 | Cukier Daniel S | Apparel having a breach indicator |
| WO2013041976A1 (en) * | 2011-02-14 | 2013-03-28 | Braga Carlo | Surgical pad |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |