Surgical Tourniquet Cuff System

• US 20090171223A1
• Filed: 03/10/2009
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Clinical Engineering Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Western Clinical Engineering Ltd.
• Inventors: McEwen, James A., Jameson, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,721,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/490
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1322 comprising a flexible encircling member A61B17/135 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1355 Automated control means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0803 Counting the number of times an instrument is used

Abstract

A surgical tourniquet cuff system includes a tourniquet cuff with a cuff connector for communicating pneumatically with the cuff and for releasably connecting to a tourniquet instrument connector to establish a pneumatic passageway between the cuff connector and the tourniquet instrument connector. A tourniquet instrument supplies pressurized gas through the pneumatic passageway to the cuff. The tourniquet instrument connector includes a cuff pressure transducer for producing a cuff pressure signal indicative of the pressure of gas within the gas passageway near the connection. The cuff may include a cuff usage register for containing a cuff usage record and the tourniquet instrument connector may include a cuff usage register interface for reading the record. The tourniquet cuff may further include a cuff sheath forming a flexible conduit containing the cuff connector and sized to allow the connection of the cuff connector to the tourniquet instrument connector within the sheath.

Claims

1. A tourniquet cuff apparatus comprising:

a cuff having an inflatable portion and a length sufficient to encircle a limb of a patient;

a cuff connector carried on the cuff and communicating pneumatically with the inflatable portion of the cuff;

a tourniquet instrument connector mating with the cuff connector to define a connection passageway between the two connectors;

a connection transducer mounted external to a remote tourniquet instrument and adjacent to the connection passageway to generate a connection pressure signal representing the pressure within the inflatable portion of the cuff; and

conduit means for conveying the connection pressure signal from the connection transducer to the remote tourniquet instrument.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a flexible tube extending between the tourniquet instrument connector and a pressure regulating mechanism within the tourniquet instrument and wherein the connection transducer is located between the tube and the cuff and adjacent to the connection passageway.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising an internal transducer mounted internal to the instrument and arranged for detecting the pressure in the tube and providing a second pressure signal representing the pressure in the tube.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a controller connected to the tourniquet instrument for receiving and comparing the connection pressure signal and the second pressure signal and for initiating a fault alert in instances when those two signals vary by more than a predetermined minimum.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the conduit means includes a cable for carrying the signal and a shroud mounted on the cuff in a retracted position to enclose the cuff connector and to be extendable therefrom to enable the mating of the cuff connector and tourniquet instrument connector inside the shroud and enclosing a portion of the cable.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the connection transducer is mounted to the tourniquet instrument connector and movable therewith into and out of mating connection with the cuff connector.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the conduit means includes a signal-carrying wire extending from the connection transducer to the tourniquet instrument.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 including a flexible tube extending between the tourniquet instrument connector and the tourniquet instrument and wherein the connection transducer is located between the tube and the cuff and adjacent to the connection passageway and wherein the signal carrying wire and tube are enclosable within a shroud that is mounted to enclose the cuff connector and to be extendable therefrom.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the transducer is a pressure transducer having a portion thereof exposed to the connection passageway and including wireless means for generating the connection pressure signal and for transmitting wirelessly the connection pressure signal to the remote tourniquet instrument.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the connection transducer is a pressure transducer having a portion thereof exposed to the connection passageway and including an electrical conductor connected thereto for transmitting the connection pressure signal to the remote tourniquet instrument.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cuff connector is arranged so that the connection passageway is adjacent to the cuff.

12. A method of sensing pressure in the inflatable portion of a tourniquet cuff and to which cuff an elongated tube is connected at one end to establish a connection passageway adjacent to the inflatable portion, and wherein the other end of the tube is connected to a tourniquet instrument, the method comprising the steps of:

transducing the pressure in the connection passageway;

generating a connection pressure signal indicative of the transduced pressure; and

transmitting the connection pressure signal to the tourniquet instrument.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the transducing step includes locating a transducer between the cuff and the elongated tube, thereby to directly tranduce the pressure in the connection passageway that is adjacent to the cuff.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of transducing in addition to the pressure in the connection passageway the pressure in the end of the tube connected to the tourniquet instrument and generating a second pressure signal representing that transduced pressure.

15. The method of claim 14 including the steps of:

comparing the connection pressure signal and the second pressure signal; and

initiating a fault alert in instances when those two signals vary by more than a predetermined minimum.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the transmitting step comprises conveying the connection pressure signal from the connection to the tourniquet instrument.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the transducing step includes the step of providing a transducer within a connector that is attached to the tube and that is removably connectable with another connector that is attached to the cuff.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the transmitting step comprises the steps of conveying the connection pressure signal from the connection to the tourniquet instrument via an electrical conductor and shrouding a portion of the conductor and the one end of the elongated tube with a shroud that is mounted to the cuff for expansion therefrom.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the transducing step includes:

defining with a cuff port that is attached to the cuff and a mated connector that is carried on the one end of the tube a connection passageway, so that the connection passageway is adjacent to the inflatable portion of the cuff and spaced from the flexible tube, and

transducing the pressure in the connection passageway.

20. The method of claim 12 including the step of locating a pressure transducer so that a portion thereof is exposed to the connection passageway.

21. The method of claim 12 including the step of enclosing the connection passageway within an extendable shroud that is mounted to the cuff.