Bone cleaning and drying system

A bone cleaning and drying system for use during joint replacement surgery and other types of surgery to remove and collect the air, blood, fluids, fat, marrow, tissue and bone debris from the cavities of the bone, comprising in combination:

• a) a handpiece having a gas control valve, a suction control valve, a gas supply hose to a gas supply source of a compressed gas, and means to attach the suction control valve to a vacuum source;
• b) said gas control valve connected to an applicator for carrying the compressed gas to the cavity of the bone;
• c) said applicator having a applicator shaft whose proximal end is connected to the handpiece and whose distal end terminates in a applicator nozzle;
• d) said applicator nozzle having a slit on the side of the applicator shaft, said slit angled to the axis of the applicator shaft, to direct the compressed gas exiting the applicator nozzle in a reversed flow direction;
• e) surrounding the proximal end of the applicator shaft, a hollow deflector shield onto which the entrained material from the cavities of the bone are directed when the applicator nozzle is inserted into said cavities, and compressed gas is discharged through the slit;
• f) the distal surface of said hollow deflector shield having a plurality of apertures;
• g) the interior of the hollow deflector shield connected through a flexible suction hose to said suction control valve and to a vacuum source;
• WHEREBY the cavity of the bone and the openings in the surrounding cancellous bone are cleaned emptied and dried during the surgery, and air, blood, fluids, fat, marrow, tissue and bone debris from the cavities of the bone are entrained within the suction system for removal, prior to the insertion of the bone cement and the prosthetic implant.