Appliance and method for wound therapy by means of negative pressure and delivery of a substance

Inventors

Walti, Martin • Hänggi, Tobias

Assignees

Medaxis AG

Abstract

An appliance is provided for negative-pressure therapy of wounds on the human or animal body in which, on the one hand, a substance is delivered to a wound bed (W) and, on the other hand, fluids, in particular an exudate and the delivered substance, are aspirated from the wound bed by negative pressure. The appliance has a suction pump housing, with a suction pump arranged therein for aspirating the fluids from the wound bed (W), and a fluid collection container for collecting the aspirated fluids. Moreover, the appliance has a first measuring device and a second measuring device. The first measuring device serves to determine the quantity of the aspirated fluids, and the second measuring device serves to determine the quantity of the substance delivered to the body.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to an appliance for healing wound tissue by means of negative-pressure therapy in which a substance is delivered to a wound bed and fluids are aspirated from the wound bed by means of negative pressure. The appliance includes a suction pump arranged in a suction pump housing for aspirating the fluids and a fluid collection container for collecting the aspirated fluids. A peristaltic pump is arranged in or on the suction pump housing, or a peristaltic pump head is arranged in or on the fluid collection container, where the peristaltic pump serves to deliver the substance to the human or animal body.

To support therapy monitoring and regulation, the appliance includes a first measuring device for determining a quantity of the aspirated fluids and a second measuring device for determining a quantity of the delivered substance. The second measuring device determines the delivered substance quantity on the basis of pump energy output by the peristaltic pump during a certain period of time. A control unit connected to the measuring devices is configured to determine a difference between the quantity of aspirated fluids and the quantity of the delivered substance and to control the suction pump on the basis of this determined difference.

The invention further defines intermittent aspiration with upward and downward phases and coordinates this with likewise intermittent delivery of the substance. The time intervals during which aspiration takes place are longer by a multiple than time intervals during which no aspiration takes place, and each aspiration interval includes an upward phase and a downward phase. The periodicity of intermittent aspiration is coordinated with the periodicity of intermittent delivery, where the delivery phases each take place together with the downward phase of the aspiration.

Claims Coverage

The document provides two independent claims, covering both an appliance and a method. Across these, the core inventive features are organized around coordinated intermittent negative-pressure aspiration and intermittent peristaltic substance delivery, with quantitative measurement of aspirated fluids and delivered substance, difference calculation, and negative-pressure control based on the difference and/or on at least one measured quantity.

Overall, the claims cover an NPWT appliance and method that measure both aspirated fluid quantity and delivered substance quantity, compute a difference between these quantities, and control negative pressure based on the difference and/or on at least one measured quantity, while coordinating intermittent aspiration phases with intermittent substance delivery phases such that delivery occurs together with aspiration downward phases.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications