Surgical gloves and surface treatment of surgical gloves for avoiding starch peritonitis and the like

#Surgical gloves traditionally are manufactured by providing hand-shaped molds onto which a film-forming, such as latex or other similar synthetic material, is deposited by dipping or the like. A mold-releasing powder is usually dusted first onto the mold to facilitate removal of the molded material from the mold. It is also usual pratice to apply a lubricating substance onto the outside of the molded glove, so that when the finished glove is peeled from the mold and retroverted, the interior of the glove is thus coated with a layer of lubricating powder for ease in donning the glove. Particles of the mold-releasing powder frequently remain on or entrapped in the exterior surface of the surgical glove.

#Over the years, a variety of powders, including talc, have been used to dust, or coat, the inner and outer surfaces of the gloves to aid in manufacture or to provide lubrication in donning the glove. Cornstarch, or its derivatives, is presently the preferred powder agent.

#Starch peritonitis, associated with the use of powders of cornstarch or its derivatives, arises as a result of residual powder particles shedding into the surgical area from the surface of a surgeon's glove into a body cavity, such as the abdomen of a person during abdominal surgery. These particles stimulate the formation of scar tissue, create adhesions, and could obstruct the bowel.

#A surgical glove coated on one or both sides with a polyol powder, specifically "F-68", will provide an improved surgical glove. "F-68" is a non-ionic polyol powder, namely, poly(oxypropylene) poly(oxyethylene) polymers, manufactured and sold under the trademark "PLURONIC" by BASF Wyandotte Corporation, Wyandotte, Mich. F-68 has been reported in internal use, administered orally in animals, and is easily absorbable by animal body tissue without irritation or toxicity. Use of F-68 as a component of human plasma volume expander, or a blood fraction, ultimately suitable for intravenous administation, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,903. The F-68 polyol is reported to have a molecular weight of approximately 8350, by Wyandotte publication OS-3012(765), and approximately 8750 In U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,903.

#The use of polyol powder in the medical and cosmetic field has been thoroughly studied. In a toxicity study, Pluronic Polyols . . . Toxicity and Irritation Data, issued by BASF Wyandotte, said publication OS-3012(765), reports on two hundred eighty five (285) reported uses for polyols. None of these reported studies are directed to the use of the specific polyol, F-68, or use of any other polyol in combination with a surgical glove for purposes of avoiding infection resulting from surgery.

#In carrying out the invention disclosed herein, prior to dipping a hand-shaped mold into a film-forming liquid, such as latex or other synthetic material, the mold is first dusted with a coating of F-68. When the film congeals to form a glove which is subsequently retroverted, the danger of any remaining particles on the patient-contact surfaces of the glove which could cause starch peritonitis, by falling into a body cavity, is eliminated since the F-68 polyol is bio-compatible and bioabsorbable.