Convective thermal blanket

A convective control blanket comprising:

• an inflatable covering including top and bottom layers of material;
• the top and bottom layers being sealed together at their peripheries so as to form a main plenum chamber and a pair of secondary plenum chambers which are in communication with respect to one another;
• a first end of the covering having a recess for receiving a patient's head, the recess forming a top portion of the covering into a pair of inflatable flaps, each flap being adapted to extend along a respective side of the patient's head, and leaving an inflatable lower portion of the covering which is adapted to cover at least the patient's chest area;
• the covering having an inlet opening for admitting a gaseous medium to inflate the lower portion and the flaps;
• and
• the bottom layer of the covering having a plurality of apertures, which open into the lower portion and the flaps, for discharging the gaseous medium over the chest and head areas when the covering is inflated.

A convective thermal control blanket, comprising:

• an inflatable covering including top and bottom layers;
• the top and bottom layers being sealed together at their peripheries and at a plurality of locations within their peripheries;
• the inflatable covering having an inlet means for admitting an inflating medium into the inflatable covering between the top and bottom layers;
• the bottom layer of the covering having a plurality of apertures for exhausting the inflating medium onto a patient;
• the inflatable covering including a head and a foot end and, at the head end, an extension for receiving and surrounding the head of a patient within a space defined by a portion of the bottom layer;
• and
• a face opening in the extension for exposing the face of the patient.

A convective thermal blanket, comprising:

• a covering having top and bottom layers of material which are adapted to cover at least a portion of a patient's chest and head areas;
• the bottom layer of the covering being a laminate of upper and lower thin sheets of material, the upper sheet of material being a thermoplastic sheet and the lower sheet of material being a soft tissue-like paper sheet;
• the top layer of the covering being a thin sheet of thermoplastic material;
• the covering having a longitudinally spaced apart head and foot edges and laterally spaced-apart side edges, the edges being substantially continuous with respect to one another so as to collectively provide the covering with a periphery;
• a head portion at the head edges of the covering having a recess which forms the head portion into a pair of laterally spaced-apart flaps for receiving a patient's head therebetween, the recess providing the top head edge of the covering with a recess edge portion;
• each flap being formed by a respective recess edge portion and a respective side edge portion;
• the top and bottom layer of the covering being sealed about the periphery so as to form a main plenum chamber and a pair of secondary plenum chambers which are in communication with respect to one another, the main plenum chamber being adapted to be in at least the chest area and each secondary plenum chamber being formed in a respective flap and adapted to be in the head area;
• the seal of the top and bottom layers of the covering taking place between the thermoplastic sheets of material;
• the covering having an inlet opening which opens into the covering for delivering a gaseous medium to inflate the main plenum chamber and the secondary plenum chambers;
• and
• the bottom layer of the covering having a plurality of apertures which open into the main plenum chamber and the secondary plenum chambers for discharging the gaseous medium over the patient's chest and head areas when the plenum chambers are inflated.