Apparatus and method for wound volume measurement
AssigneeSmith & Nephew, Inc.
InventorEdward Yerbury Hartwell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for measuring a volume of a wound are described, the method comprising the steps of: applying a dressing over a wound, the volume of which is to be measured, the dressing including at least a sealing drape over the wound so as to create a sealed wound cavity; creating a vacuum in said wound cavity by vacuum pump means so as to produce a predetermined vacuum in the wound cavity; measuring a volume of air extracted from said wound cavity in producing said predetermined vacuum; and, calculating a volume of said wound.
Claims18
1-16. (canceled)
A negative pressure wound therapy device comprising:
- a negative pressure source configured to be connected to a wound via a fluid flow path and to provide negative pressure to the wound;
- and
- a controller programmed to operate the negative pressure source, the controller further programmed to:
- monitor a cumulative fluid flow in the fluid flow path, the cumulative fluid flow comprising fluid flow due to operation of the negative pressure source and fluid flow due to a leak in the fluid flow path, and
- provide an indication based on the cumulative fluid flow.
A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a controller of a negative pressure wound therapy device, cause the controller to:
- via a fluid flow path, operate a negative pressure source negative pressure to provide negative pressure to a wound covered by a wound dressing;
- measure a cumulative fluid flow, wherein the cumulative flow comprises flow due to operation of the negative pressure source and fluid flow due to a leak in the fluid flow path;
- and
- determine a leak rate responsive to the negative pressure operating in a steady state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.