The invention broadly relates to endoscopic surgical procedures, and more particularly to an irrigation system and tubing set for use in irrigating an endoscopic surgical site.
A trend in modern medicine has been to treat the body without invasive procedures if at all possible, because invasive procedures inflict a certain trauma of their own on the patient, and because when the skin is broken the risk of infection of the patient, or others by the patient, increases substantially. When surgery must be performed, it is currently considered desirable to use "minimally invasive" procedures as much as possible. A specific known example of a class of such techniques is arthroscopic surgery, wherein joints (most commonly the knee) and their supporting structures are treated through small incisions using tools to visualize the interior of the body.
During such surgery, irrigation of the joint is necessary for the following reasons:
(1) Inflation of the joint is desirable for better visualization and access achieved by an increased joint or tissue separation. This is accomplished by application of pressure through the medium of the irrigation fluid or gas. PA1 (2) Flow of the irrigation fluid through the joint keeps the field of view clear and eliminates loose debris. PA1 (3) The fluid keeps the joint lubricated and replaces lost body fluids.
Co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,462 (DeSatnick et al.) discloses an irrigation system particularly adapted for the control of such irrigation, and which allows independent control of both the pressure and the flow. The DeSatnick '462 patent shows an expansion chamber connected to an outflow line for dampening pressure variations. Co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,265 (DeSatnick et al.) discloses a tubing set particularly adapted to deliver irrigation fluids as part of such a system. An irrigation system generally as disclosed in the Desatnick et al. patents has been available as Model 8300 under the trade designation "3M ARTHROSCOPY PUMP" from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,604,089 (Santangelo et al.), and 4,940,457 (Olson), and PCT Publication No. WO 86/00534 show other irrigation systems for use during arthroscopy.
While irrigation systems of the type described above have enjoyed success in helping to carry out surgery on large joints such as the knee, it would be desirable to have an irrigation system that is particularly designed to control the irrigation of small joints such as the wrist. The small volume in such joints makes controlling the pressure a more difficult task, since relatively small amounts of flow can translate into large pressure spikes within the joint space.