Surgical device for wicking and removing fluid

Abstract

A flexible, sterile, trimable device which gently and continuously removes unwanted fluid from an operating field during surgery by wicking the fluid into a mat having a high wicking property. A flexible suction tube having one end embedded in the mat removes fluid from the mat, thereby preventing the mat from becoming saturated. One embodiment of the invention is as a surgical swabber where one end of a length of semi-rigid tube is embedded in the mat and the other end is connected to a flexible suction tube. Another embodiment of the invention is as a platform for microsurgery where a membrane having a plurality of holes is applied to one side of the mat. The membrane supports the tissue being worked on and is preferably a contrasting color. Fluid passing into the holes is wicked into the mat where it is subsequently removed by the suction tube. The platform can be oriented in any position and does not slip on the tissue on which it is placed. Another embodiment of the invention is as a device that seals off the nose from the throat during nasal surgery so that blood from the nasal procedure will not go down the back of the throat. A nonporous sheet of silicone rubber or similar material is applied to one side of the mat. The sheet is sufficiently thick to give the device a springy quality which allows the device to be folded in half longitudinally then deploy into an inverted V configuration in the nasal cavity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.