WO2016105213A1

WO2016105213A1 - Medical corset

Info

Publication number: WO2016105213A1
Application number: PCT/NZ2015/050216
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anthony Edward TRIBE; Charlotte RUTHERFORD
Original assignee: Dtnpt Limited
Priority date: 2014-12-22
Filing date: 2015-12-18
Publication date: 2016-06-30
Also published as: AU2015367922A1; NZ733102A; AU2015367922B2

Abstract

A medical corset intended to limit chest expansion of a wearer consists of two side panels joinable at the front by a slide fastener and at the back by at least two adjustable fasteners and preferably a piece of material under the adjustable fasteners. The adjustment is intended to limit the chest expansion of the wearer and the slide fastener allows removing or donning the corset without changing the adjustment.

Description

MEDICAL CORSET

Technical Field

The invention generally relates to medical corsets.

More particularly the invention relates to medical corsets for protecting the wearer from undue chest expansion.

GLOSSARY

"FVC" Forced Vital Capacity is the amount of air which can be forcibly blown from the lungs after a full inspiration.

Background Art Medical corsets are known and are provided to persons who either require protection or restriction from some body movement or require support which their body is no longer able to provide. Some of these corsets are intended to protect a patient from the effects of sternum separation or the separation of joints affected by rib surgery by preventing expansion of the chest.

US 4508110 provides a rigid orthosis of two shells joined by lacings which are of preset length and pulled tight once the orthosis is in place to adhere with Velcro straps. While the spacing of the shells can be controlled there is no indication of the "correct" adjustment.

US 4838263 shows a thoracic pneumatic vest which can provide thoracic pressure, normally oscillatory. It is non-expansible and may have a hook and loop fastening at the front or such fastenings at the sides. Again there is no indication of the correct adjustment of the vest.

US 8500670 describes a vest for post-surgical use which has an adjustable band encircling the chest. The band is stretchable and may be fastened by a hook and loop fastening. Handles are supplied to allow the wearer to temporarily alter the encircling force. No means of verifying the tension of the band is described. US 20010034498 describes a harness including an adjustable chest expansion restraint with front fastening and rear adjustment. The rear adjustment may be temporarily tightened by the patient to cater for post-surgical coughs, sneezes etc. The degree of tightening is not measured. Such corsets are generally hard to put on and hard to adjust and it is difficult to monitor patient compliance in wearing them.

Therefore a need exists for a solution to the problem of donning a corset and preferably monitoring the wearers use of it.

The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems which offers advantages over the prior art or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art in any country. Summary Of The Invention

In one exemplification the invention consists in a medical corset dimensioned to substantially enclose at least a portion of at least the thoracic area of a person, the medical corset having separable sides each with a rear edge, a top edge, a bottom edge and a front edge such that each separable side of the medical corset when worn by a person will cover at least a portion of the back of a person and extend forwards around the rib cage on each side, coacting parts of a slide fastener or similar device extending down each of the front edges of the medical corset and being fastenable to each other; at least two adjustable length fasteners with cooperating parts, the cooperating parts being mounted adjacent each of the rear edges such that the rear edges of the medical corset are connectable by the adjustable length fasteners to be adjustably spaced by the cooperating parts of the fasteners.

Preferably the adjustable length fasteners having graduations to provide length indication. Preferably the corset has a remotely readable data logger sensitive to at least the pulse of a corset wearer located within the structure of the medical corset.

Preferably the slide fastener is a separable interengaging tooth fastener.

Preferably the adjustably spaced cooperating fasteners are fastened by a hook and loop material, Preferably the cooperating adjustable length fasteners may be fixed in length once adjusted.

Preferably the data logger is additionally sensitive to the degree of expansion of the chest of the wearer.

In a further exemplification the invention relates to a method of adjusting the fit of a medical corset as claimed in claim 1 by calculating or measuring the maximum expanded lung volume of a potential wearer, placing the medical corset on the potential wearer, fastening the slide fastener and adjusting the cooperating adjustable length straps to limit the wearers forced vital capacity (FVC) to less than 80% of the expanded lung volume. Preferably the lung volume is limited to less than 70% of the expanded lung volume.

These and other features of as well as advantages which characterise the present invention will be apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and review of the associated drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a front view of a medical corset on a person. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the medical corset of FIG 1. FIG. 3 is a detail view of a strap fastening the back of the corset of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a detail view of an alternative strap fastening for such a corset. FIG. 5 is a detail view of a data logger fittable to the corset of FIG. 1.

Description of the Invention Referring now to FIG. l the drawing shows at 101 a person wearing the inventive corset generally shown at 102 and consisting of two sides 103 and 104 which are completely separable. Each side may have a supporting strap 106 but these are not essential. Where provided they may be adjustable in length.

The sides have top edges 107, bottom edges 108, front edges 109 and rear edges (FIG. 2) 110. The front edges carry the cooperating parts of a slide fastener 105 which is preferably an interlocking tooth fastener of the type in which one side is totally separable from the other. Other types of slide fastener can be used, bearing in mind that the aim of the fastener is to allow the wearer to remove the corset 102 without changing any fitting adjustments and to put it on again without undue difficulty.

Typically the corset is in some tension even when the wearers chest is relaxed in order to ensure that it does not exceed the maximum chosen lung inflation. This renders fastenings such as buttons difficult to use and slide fasteners have the advantage that they can be operated to open and close even under lateral tension.

FIG. 2 shows a rear view of the corset when fitted, showing top edges 107, bottom edges 108, rear edges 110 and several straps 111 which adjust the fit of the corset.

Flaps of material (not shown) may underlie both the slide fastener at the front and the open area over which the straps 111 extend at the rear for the comfort of the wearer.

The corset may be made of any relatively non-stretching material, for instance nylon mesh. The material used is preferably permeable, washable and non-shrinking and may include a wicking component or lining to remove moisture from the skin.

Four straps 111 are shown but the actual number required will vary with the material of the corset, for instance a semi-rigid corset of two shells might require only a top and bottom adjustment strap while a corset of very light stretch resistant polyester fabric might require six or seven. The straps are adjustable in length and the setting of the adjustment is visibly determinable. This allows easy determination of whether the corset has become maladjusted.

The number of straps will also vary with the length of the corset which may be chosen to suit the wearers need and may vary from a corset covering only the upper ribs to one covering the whole thorax and the upper part of the abdomen.

FIG. 3 shows the adjusting straps of FIG. 2 which have co-operating fastening parts which include a pad 112 securely adhered or sewn to side 104 of the corset and carrying a non-stretchable strap 113 which may have measurement indicia 114 on it to assist in adjusting the fit, and in confirming that the fit has been maintained. The strap and a pad 115 secured to side 103 of the corset may have a cooperating hook and loop fabric attached to it to allow easy readjustment of the fit.

FIG. 4 shows a variation of the adjusting straps in which the co-operating fastening parts consist of a strap 113 which is overlaid by a known cooperating cam device 115 secured to side 103 of the corset and which can be irreversibly tightened onto strap, preventing any further adjustment. Other securing devices may be substituted to prevent adjustment once the correct setting is arrived at. Again the strap may have indicia or other markings to allow visible determination of the strap adjustment.

FIG. 5 shows the wearer side of a monitoring device in the form of a commercially available data logger 117 secured to a patch 119 in turn secured to side 104 of the corset in the region of the heart. No material underlies the device which is maintained in contact with the chest wall by the tension of the medical corset. The data logger 116 is an integral chip device with an inductively rechargeable battery and has electrodes 117, 118 which allow monitoring of surface currents in the chest wall. It may also have an accelerometer. This is sufficient to monitor at least the wearers heart rate, but may also include the wearers respiratory rate, relative lung inflation, whether the initial tension in the corset is correct (in other words have the straps been altered), and or whether the corset is in fact being worn. Such a monitoring device is typically downloaded by Bluetooth to another device (phone, laptop) for monitoring purposes and the corset may be draped over an inductive charger when not being worn, for instance at night. The logger may be removed from the corset if necessary for downloading or replacement. In operation the medical corset is fitted to a wearer whose maximum lung capacity is known and the straps of the corset are adjusted to limit the wearers available lung capacity to a percentage of the forced vital capacity as measured. The length of the straps may then be recorded, and if desired locks may be fitted to the straps to prevent the adjustment being altered. The corset can readily be removed by sliding the front fastening open and detaching the parts of the slide fastening from each other. It can as easily be refitted without disturbing the length setting of the straps.

Preferably in the prevention of mesothelioma the available lung capacity is limited to at or below 70% of the individuals predicted FVC. It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the various embodiments of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and functioning of various embodiments of the invention, this disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail so long as the functioning of the invention is not adversely affected. For example the particular elements of the medical corset may vary dependent on the particular application for which it is used without variation in the spirit and scope of the present invention. This may include, for example, sculpturing the corset to provide adequate breast support for female wearers including providing more rigid shaped portions of the corset in the breast area, In addition, although the preferred embodiments described herein are directed to medical corsets for use in a lung function control system, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims. For instance the corset could be used to limit stress on the sternum after heart surgery. Industrial Applicability

The medical corset of the invention is used in the prevention of injury to a person due to excessive thoracic inflation. The present invention is therefore industrially applicable.

Claims

1. A medical corset dimensioned to substantially circumferentially enclose at least a portion of at least the thoracic area of a person, the medical corset having separable sides each with a rear edge, a top edge, a bottom edge and a front edge such that each separable side of the medical corset when worn by a person will cover at least a portion of the back of a person and extend forwards around the rib cage on one side, coacting parts of a slide fastener or similar device extending down each of the front edges of the medical corset and fastenable to each other, at least two adjustable length fasteners of visibly determinable length and each with cooperating fastening parts, the cooperating fastening parts being mounted adjacent each of the rear edges such that the rear edges of the medical corset are connectable by the adjustable length fasteners to be adjustably spaced between the cooperating parts of the adjustable length fasteners.

2. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 wherein the adjustable length fasteners have visible graduations to provide length indication.

3. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 having a remotely readable data logger sensitive to at least the pulse of a corset wearer located within the structure of the medical corset.

4. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 wherein the slide fastener is a separable interengaging tooth fastener.

5. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 wherein the adjustably spaced

cooperating fasteners are fastened by a hook and loop material,

6. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cooperating fasteners may be fixed in length once initially adjusted.

7. A medical corset as claimed in claim 1 wherein the data logger is additionally sensitive to the degree of expansion of the chest of the wearer.

8. A method of adjusting the fit of a medical corset as claimed in claim 1 by

measuring the expanded lung volume of a potential wearer, placing the medical corset on the potential wearer, fastening the slide fastener and adjusting the cooperating adjustable length straps to limit the wearers maximum usable lung volume to less than 80% of the forced vital capacity.

The method of adjusting the fit of a medical corset as claimed in claim 5 wherein the adjustable length straps limit the wearers usable lung volume to 70% of the forced vital capacity of the wearer.