Laparoscopic smoke evacuation system

A laparoscopic smoke evacuator system for removing from an operative site, smoke containing undesirable contaminants, the system comprising:

• a trocar having a working channel and being adapted for operative disposition across a body wall with the working channel of the trocar providing access to the operative site;
• a first valve disposed on the trocar and communicating with the working channel;
• a source of wall vacuum disposed in a wall of an operating room proving a high suction at a flow rate of about forty to about eighty liters per minute,
• means for conducting the smoke along a fluid path extending between the first valve of the trocar and the surgical smoke evacuator;
• a filter disposed along the fluid path for applying a first predetermined reduction in suction, and for separating the smoke into the undesirable components and a residual gas, the fluid path, the filter, and the working channel forming a passage for conducting the smoke from the operative site to the source of wall vacuum;
• and
• a second valve disposed along the fluid path for controlling application of the vacuum from the smoke evacuator, through the first valve and to the operative site.

A method for evacuating smoke from a surgical site in the abdominal cavity during laparoscopic surgery, the smoke containing undesirable contaminants, the method comprising the steps of:

• inserting a trocar into the surgical site, the trocar having a working channel providing access to the surgical site and a stopcock extending into the channel, the stopcock outputting a low-suction vacuum to the working channel;
• manipulating an instrument through the working channel of the trocar to the operative site;
• coupling a flexible conduit between a high-suction source of wall vacuum disposed in a wall of an operating room and the valve of the trocar to draw the smoke from the operative site, through the working channel having low-suction vacuum, exteriorly of the instrument and to the high-suction source of wall vacuum;
• and
• filtering the undesirable contaminants from the smoke by providing a filter along the flexible conduit between the stopcock outputting the low-suction vacuum and the high-suction source of wall vacuum, the filter applying a predetermined reduction in the high-suction vacuum to thereby output a relatively low-suction vacuum.

A combination for removing surgical smoke from a surgical operating room, comprising;

• a plurality of walls defining the surgical operating room and including a sidewall;
• a high-suction source of wall vacuum disposed outside the room exteriorly of the sidewall;
• means for coupling the high-suction source of wall vacuum through the side wall to provide high-suction wall vacuum interiorly of the room, the high-suction wall vacuum having a flow rate of about 40-80 liters per minute;
• a trocar for receiving a low-suction flow rate of about 10-55 liters per minute, the trocar having a working channel and being disposed at an operative site within the surgical operating room;
• a valve coupled to the trocar and communicating with the working channel;
• a fluid conduit extending between the valve of the trocar and the coupling means associated with the high-suction source of wall vacuum, the working channel of the trocar, the conduit, and the coupling means defining an exhaust passage extending through the sidewall of the surgical operating room;
• means defining a predetermined flow restriction along the exhaust passage, the predetermined flow restriction being of a size sufficiently small to produce the reduction in the suction flow rate to the range between about 10 and about 55 liters per minute;
• whereby
• the exhaust passage conducts the surgical smoke from the operative site interiorly of the operating room and through the sidewall to regions exterior of the room.

A method for evacuating smoke from a surgical site, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing an operating room defined by at least one sidewall and having a coupling extending through the one sidewall to present high-suction wall vacuum interiorly of the operating room;
• providing a trocar at the surgical site within the operating room, the trocar receiving a low-suction flow rate of about 10-55 liters per minute, and having a working channel and a valve extending into the working channel;
• providing a conduit having a proximal end and a distal end, and a length sufficient to extend from the high-suction wall vacuum coupling to the trocar at the surgical site;
• attaching the proximal end of the conduit to the wall vacuum coupling, the conduit having a length sufficient to extend from the high-suction wall vacuum coupling to the trocar at the surgical site;
• attaching the distal end of the conduit to the valve of the trocar;
• and
• evacuating the smoke from the surgical site through the working channel and the valve of the trocar at the low-suction flow rate and through the conduit and the coupling of the high-suction wall vacuum to regions exterior of the operating room.

A portable, lightweight, and inexpensive laparoscopic smoke evacuation system for converting conventional liquid-evacuating forces, characterized by high-suction and low-volume, to smoke-removing forces, characterized by low-suction and high-volume, the apparatus comprising:

• a connector for connecting to a source of wall vacuum, the source of wall vacuum providing the conventional high-suction, low-volume liquid-evacuating forces at a suction of between 100 and 400 inches of water, the source of wall vacuum being designed for evacuating liquids such as blood from an operating room at both a low volume and a high suction, the liquid-removing suction of between 100 and 400 inches of water being entirely too great to be applied to a conventional laparoscopic smoke evacuation system;
• a fluid conduit operatively connected to the connector;
• a filter disposed along the fluid conduit, the filter being specifically engineered for significantly reducing the suction from the wall vacuum by approximately 25 inches of water, the filter further being engineered for separating smoke into undesirable components and a residual gas;
• a stopcock disposed along the fluid conduit, the stopcock having a relatively small orifice, which is utilized to further significantly reduce the suction from the wall vacuum, the small opening of the stopcock reducing a flow rate of the stopcock by at least 50 percent to thereby generate and output the low-suction, high-volume, smoke-evacuating forces;
• and
• a trocar operatively connected to the stopcock, the trocar receiving the low-suction, high-volume, smoke-evacuating forces from the stopcock, the trocar having a working channel and being adapted for operative disposition across a body wall with the working channel of the trocar providing access to an operating site.