DE20304630U1 - Examination table with a longitudinally slidable superstructure for computer tomography units has a least one trough for capture of liquids running over the side walls of the superstructure - Google Patents

Abstract

The examination table (10) with a longitudinally slidable superstructure (12) for computer tomography units (11) is provided with a least one trough (28, 30) for capture of liquids running over the side walls of the superstructure. An independent claim is also included for medical units, particularly a computer and nucleic spin tomography units with such an examination table.

Description

The invention relates to a couch with an extendable bed board, in particular for computer tomographs.

Such couches are well known. Their main application is in computer tomography, where they are used to move a patient lying on the couch in the direction of his craniocaudal main axis, at least partially through a generally circular opening of a computer tomograph, so that an imaging unit that can be moved around the circular opening can move around the parts of the patient's body that are of interest.

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In order to keep the circular opening as small as possible and to allow the imaging unit to move as close as possible around the patient, the couches of the type in question here have a relatively thin board-like (but of course padded) element on which the actual lying surface is formed and which will be referred to below as the "lying board" due to its board-like design. This lying board is supported by a substructure in such a way that it can be moved out of an initial position and retracted again in an essentially horizontal direction.

It should be noted that couches of the type in question here are often also referred to as examination tables. For the sake of clarity, however, we will always refer to couches in the following.

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE .«»..»». .»·. "■; .··. *»·; Description

In practice, a whole series of problems have arisen with such couches. It is relatively common for the couch to be used as an operating table, so that a patient lying on the couch can be examined using a CT scanner between two operations without the patient having to be moved to another bed. Contrast media are also often used to improve the information provided by a CT scan. Finally, it is often necessary to subject a seriously injured and heavily bleeding patient to a CT scan immediately before the bleeding has completely stopped. In all of these cases, fluids such as blood, blood plasma or contrast media get onto the couch and run down the side into or onto the substructure, which is difficult to clean.

As a rule, it is desired that the patient remains lying still without moving, at least during the actual examination, for example while the imaging unit is moving around the body parts being examined. However, as described above, the lying boards themselves should be kept as thin as possible, which leaves little room for padding and the patient lies on a substantially flat surface, while the parts of his body resting on them, e.g. his heels, are round, making it difficult for the patient to remain lying completely still, especially when the lying board starts to move.

Based on this, the invention is based on the object of providing an improved lounger of the type mentioned at the beginning.
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The object is achieved by a lounger having the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments and further developments are the subject of the subclaims.

The bed according to claim 1 has the great advantage that liquids such as blood do not collect in hard-to-reach places, dry there and lead to odor and/or bacterial problems.

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE ««_ ^«». _t ". «»»; ,""■; Description

A design of the bed according to claim 5 has the great advantage that the patient can be placed in a surprisingly stable manner in a simple manner, without the need for thick foam wedges or other fixing aids. Surprisingly, it has been shown that a relatively thin padding of the bed surface of only about 1 cm thick or even less with a granular material can be sufficient to ensure the desired fixation of the patient. For reasons of comfort, the padding can of course also be thicker overall, e.g. about 2 to 4 cm.

It is also possible and advantageous to make individual sections of the upholstery inflatable, both for the purpose of providing comfort to the patient lying on the couch and for the purpose of positioning the patient in a particular position, e.g. at an angle.

Further details and advantages of the invention emerge from the following purely exemplary and non-limiting description of two embodiments in conjunction with the drawing. They show:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bed according to the invention with partially extended

Bed board and a computer tomograph,

Fig. 2 is a side view of a second embodiment of a bed according to the invention with a retracted bed board,

Fig. 3 the lounger according to Fig. 2 with extended lounger board,

Fig. 4 a top view of the bed according to Fig. 2 with retracted handrails and retracted

drawers,

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE .«»..»«. .*». «"· ,»*, **»; Description

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Fig. 5 is a plan view of the bed according to Fig. 2 with handrails and drawers extended,

Fig. 6 a highly simplified section through a couch according to

Fig. 2 in the area of the drawers and

Fig. 7 a highly simplified section through the bed according to

Fig. 2 in the area of the handrails.
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In Fig. 1, a couch, designated in its entirety by 10, is shown in perspective view, which is designed for use with a computer tomograph 11.

The lounger 10 comprises an extendable lounger board 12, a base part 14 and a foot 16, wherein the base part 14 and the foot 16 form a substructure for the lounger board 12.

At the time shown in Fig. 1, the lying board 12 is partially extended in a manner known per se, so that the head part 18 is already located in the circular opening of the computer tomograph 11.

The embodiment of a bed shown in Fig. 1 has an undercut groove 20 in the base part 14, in which a cleaning device 22 is guided in such a way that after the bed board 12 is pulled back into the so-called starting or resting position, in which the bed board 18 is located exactly above the base part 14, an automatic cleaning process can take place, in which the cleaning device 22 automatically moves over the bed board 12 including the head part 18 and in the process cleans and/or disinfects the lying surface formed by the bed board 12 and the head part 18.

As can be clearly seen in Fig. 1, on the upper side of the base part 14 facing the lying board 12, two in the direction in which the lying board 12

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg Hl 4G02DE

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can be extended, rounded edges 24 and 26 are provided such that two collecting channels 28 and 30 are formed on the surface of the base part 14.

The rounded edges 24 and 26 can, but do not have to, be designed in such a way that they simultaneously have a guiding function for the lying board.

The collecting channels 28 and 30 prevent liquids that run down the side walls of the bed board 12 from penetrating a movement mechanism (not shown here) arranged in the base part 14 that allows the bed board to be extended. In addition, the channels prevent such liquids from running into hard-to-reach places on the bed or from penetrating into the groove 20. In the event that liquid should nevertheless penetrate into the groove 20, the groove is provided in its area facing the floor with a number of drainage openings (not shown here) through which any liquids that have penetrated into the groove can drip to the floor.

The collecting channels 28 and 30 can be designed in such a way that collected liquid collects at a specific location within the channel. However, the channels can also be designed in such a way that the liquid drips down over an end wall of the base part, e.g. over the end wall 32, onto the floor from which it can be easily removed.

As can be clearly seen in Fig. 1, the foot 16 is designed and arranged in such a way that it has only a relatively small standing area in relation to the lying surface and is arranged relatively centrally under the lying surface. This has the advantageous effect that staff and patients can approach the bed from any side without hitting the foot of the bed with their feet.

In this embodiment, the foot 16 has three elements 34, 36 and 38, which - as indicated by the movement arrow 40 - can be telescoped into and out of each other so that the height of the bed 10 can be adjusted. For this purpose, two foot switches 42 and 44 are arranged in the foot 16, by means of which the

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE «« .♦_ /«_ »>»« _M ** _m *»«« Description

Height adjustment of the couch can be controlled. Such height adjustment allows the couch to be lowered from the examination height specified by the height of the circular opening in the computer tomograph 11 to a lowered position in which even small patients can sit comfortably on the couch. At the same time, the height adjustment allows the couch to be moved from the examination position to an optimal operating position for a doctor, which can be lowered or raised compared to the examination position depending on the size of the doctor.

The optimal positioning can of course also be adjusted in other ways, e.g. via control buttons on a medical device assigned to the couch.

Since the height of the examination position is predefined by the circular opening of the computer tomograph 11, it has proven to be useful if the height of this position can be moved to automatically. It is easily possible to design means, e.g. an automatic control, so that different positions can be stored and moved to automatically when required, e.g. the examination position and a doctor-specific operating position. The aforementioned foot switches can then be assigned control functions so that these last two positions can be moved to by operating the foot switches.

The couch 10 can be swiveled around a substantially vertical axis, as indicated by the movement arrow 46, whereby a swivel range of 90° is optimal, but for most applications smaller swivel ranges of e.g. 20° are completely sufficient. It has been shown that with the known rigid couches that cannot be swiveled, the transfer of a bedridden patient from a transport bed to the couch board is problematic due to the particular spatial conditions. The swivelling ability of the couch, particularly in conjunction with the height adjustment, ensures that it can be used in almost any room.

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Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE .. .. » «>»« _&mgr; *· _&mgr; »»<« Description

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that a transport bed can be moved close to the couch so that the patient can be easily repositioned.

In Fig. 2 to Fig. 7 a second embodiment of a bed according to the invention is shown, which differs from the bed shown in Fig. 1 only in that additional elements, in particular two drawers 50 and 52 and two handrails 54 and 56, have been integrated into the base part 14. Otherwise, the bed shown in Fig. 2 to Fig. 7 corresponds to the bed shown in Fig. 1, so that in Fig. 2 to Fig. 7 the same reference numerals as in Fig. 1 are used. A cleaning device is not shown in Fig. 2 to Fig. 7, but can of course be arranged on the bed 10 without any problem.

Drawers 50 and 52 are used to store a wide variety of items.

In particular, it can be planned that medical instruments, e.g. instruments for inserting a Braunüle, are stored in one drawer, while the other drawer is reserved for the patient's personal belongings. Up to now, the storage of both items has been a problem:

Until now, medical instruments have mostly been kept on mobile tables, which, however, are more of a hindrance than a help;

Patients who have to remove metal objects such as glasses, rings and watches during the examination have so far had to put these objects in a separate changing room or at least far away from the couch, which is disadvantageous for both psychological and safety reasons.

The couch according to the invention now allows the patient to keep his personal belongings in his immediate vicinity during the examination.

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE »» *m _»«_ «»»« ^*«^ »»&diams;; Description

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The drawers can be provided in a known manner with pull-out guides which have dampened spring elements 58 and 60 so that, for example, after a drawer button is pressed, the drawer slowly extends, but on the other hand is also held securely in a retracted position. 5

The handrails 54 and 56, which in this embodiment can be moved hydraulically or electrically between a position retracted into the base part 14 and a position extended from the base part, but in other embodiments can also be designed to be pivotable or foldable, fulfill an important dual function:

When extended, they serve to support a patient while he or she positions himself or herself in the desired position on the bed;

- in the retracted state, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 7,

the handrails 54 and 56 also protrude slightly from the base part 14 and thus advantageously form a crash protection.

This impact protection is advantageous because when moving bedridden patients using a transport bed, the nursing staff often have to use transport beds,

which have a metal frame, are accidentally driven in front of the relatively sensitive lounger, thereby damaging the lounger and in particular the mechanism for extending the lounger board.
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Looking at Fig. 5, it may be surprising that the handrails do not extend to the foot end opposite the head part 18. However, this is due to the fact that the bed, in particular the base part 14 and the bed board 12, are significantly longer than the height of a normal person. As a result, the end area of the bed board 12 facing away from the head part 18 can be used advantageously for laying down or setting down instruments and equipment.

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Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE _T »«..»*. .**,***! .**.**" Description

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For example, a patient may be connected to a monitoring monitor and should remain connected to the monitoring monitor during the examination. Until now, such a monitoring monitor had to be placed on a movable table next to the couch, but such a table hinders the examination and represents an unnecessary tripping hazard. However, since a transport bed is moved up to the couch so that the patient is already as close as possible to the position he or she is supposed to assume on the couch 10, a crash barrier in the middle and in the area of the couch 10 facing the head section is completely sufficient.

A crash barrier limited in the manner described not only has the advantage that unnecessary material is saved, but also the advantage that the drawers 50 and 52 can be easily arranged in the area of the base part 14 not provided with a crash barrier, without the base part 14 having to be thickened. In general, the invention allows an extremely elegant design of the bed that is practically free of impact edges and is also easy to clean.

In this embodiment, the bed is provided with a pump 62, which serves to suck air out of the upholstery 64. This process is generally referred to as "evacuation", although it does not create a complete vacuum in the physical sense.

In this embodiment, the padding 64 advantageously consists of one or more air-impermeable covers that are filled with a granular material not shown here, in particular plastic granules. Recycling material, e.g. polyethylene granules, is also advantageously suitable as granular material. If several covers are provided, these can advantageously form a unit on the outside, so that one can also speak of a padding with chambers, i.e. divided into individual chambers. The individual chambers can then be designed in such a way that certain chambers can only be evacuated and other chambers can only be inflated, or in such a way that all or certain chambers can be inflated or evacuated as required.

Patent Attorneys Bungartz & Kreutzer, Duisburg H14G02DE _««__«». .**.**'! .**.***! Description

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The grain size of the granular material should be less than 2 mm, preferably 1 mm or less. Such padding of the bed, or more precisely of the bed surface formed on the bed 12, ensures that a patient is very stable even when the bed board is extended. It has been shown that using a suitable granular material can achieve the desired effect without evacuating the padding. However, the desired effect is significantly increased if the padding is evacuated at least in the part where a particularly secure fixation is desired. For this purpose, the padding is expediently divided into several individually evacuatable and/or inflatable chambers.

By evacuating the individual grains of the granular material in the corresponding casing take up a fixed position, whereby the contour of the casing then follows the contour of the body part of the patient lying on it exactly, thus preventing the patient from slipping unintentionally, particularly when starting or stopping the couch. The couch according to the invention therefore also advantageously enables many examination procedures, e.g. in computer and magnetic resonance imaging, to be carried out more quickly, because the corresponding medical devices already work very quickly nowadays, but were previously limited in their actual application speed by the fact that the couch could not be moved too quickly through the respective device in order to prevent the patient from slipping, who should remain in a certain position throughout the entire examination.

Within the scope of the inventive concept, numerous modifications and further developments are possible, for example relating to the design of the padding of the lying surface or the design of the collecting channels. For example, it can be provided that the collecting channels open into a common collecting container.

Claims (19)

1. Couch with extendable bed board, in particular for computer tomographs, characterized in that at least one collecting channel is provided for liquid running down the side walls of the bed board. 2. Lounger according to claim 1, characterized in that the collecting channel is provided in a substructure supporting the lounger board. 3. Lounger according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the collecting channel is delimited on one side by a rounded edge which runs along the direction in which the lounger board can be extended. 4. Lounger according to claims 2 and 3, characterized in that on the upper side of the substructure facing the lounger board, two rounded edges are provided which run along the direction in which the lounger board can be extended. 5. Couch with extendable bed board, in particular for computer tomographs, in particular according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the side of the bed board facing a patient during intended use of the couch is at least partially padded with granular material. 6. Bed according to claim 5, characterized in that the granular material is a plastic granulate, in particular a polyethylene granulate. 7. Bed according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the grain size of the granular material is less than 2 mm, preferably less than 1 mm. 8. Lounger according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in
that the granular material is at least partially held in one or more airtight casings or chambers and
that means are provided for extracting air from the airtight enclosure(s) or chamber(s) as required. 9. Bed according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that one or more inflatable chambers are provided for comfortable positioning and/or fixing of a patient in a certain position. 10. Lounger according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the lounger is height adjustable. 11. Bed according to claim 10, characterized in that means are provided for storing and automatically moving to at least one specific height position. 12. Lounger according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the lounger is pivotable about a substantially vertical axis. 13. Lounger according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that at least one extendable, foldable or swiveling handrail is provided. 14. Bed according to claim 13, characterized in that the handrail is designed in such a way that it can fulfil an impact protection function even when retracted, folded or pivoted in. 15. Bed according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that at least one drawer is provided. 16. Lounger according to one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the lounger board is supported by a substructure, characterized in that the substructure is formed by a base part and a foot, wherein the base part in plan view essentially follows the shape of the lounger board and the foot is dimensioned and arranged such that it does not hinder persons approaching the lounger. 17. Lounger according to claim 16, characterized in that the lounger is designed to be height-adjustable and that at least one foot switch is provided in the base for changing the height of the lying surface formed on the lounger relative to the floor. 18. Lounger according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that
that two collecting channels are formed on the surface of the base part for liquid running over the side walls of the deck board and
that at least one drawer and at least one extendable, foldable or swiveling handrail are arranged in the base part. 19. Medical device, in particular a computer tomograph or magnetic resonance imaging device, with a couch according to one of claims 1 to 18.