Surgical towels with reduced lint particle generation

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/048,394, filed Apr. 28, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety.

The present invention relates generally to towels and, more particularly, to towels used in medical applications.

Towels are used widely throughout hospitals and other medical facilities in a variety of ways to assist staff and physicians in absorbing liquids, cleaning surfaces, cushioning, and wiping. These towels are conventionally referred to as “huck” or surgical towels. Conventional surgical towels are woven from cotton spun yarns, and are cut and folded in much the same way as kitchen towels. Although useful for their absorbency, cleaning ability, and soft malleable handle, conventional surgical towels have the tendency to discharge large quantities of cotton particles and fiber during use.

In some cases, the release of particles and lint is not a serious issue. However, when used on or around a surgical wound, the release of particles and lint can cause serious problems including, but not limited to, infection, granuloma, adhesions, thrombosis, embolism, and inflammation. Particles discharged from conventional surgical towels may carry pathogens and may contaminate wounds. When carrying pathogens, the lint particles may be a significant vector of nosocomial infection. Additionally, if particles lodge in a wound they may form adhesions or granulomas that may cause future health problems. In ophthalmic surgical procedures, particles contaminating the wound may cause Diffuse Lamellar Keratitis, which leaves white grainy cells in the eye. Particles also may cause damage if they reside on the surface of an artificial joint implant where they may cause infection and may form scar tissue.

To reduce the potential for contamination, some surgical suites utilize “clean room” technology including the use of lint and particle-free garments, and HEPA filtration. As such, it is counter to good practice to use standard surgical or huck towels in these clean and sterile environments.

Various attempts have been made at producing alternative surgical towels that do not discharge large amounts of lint and particles. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,105 to Boyd; U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,544 to Mallen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,066 to Newman; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,382 to Chapman. Unfortunately, these alternative designs have failed to produce surgical towels that are absorbent, have good cleaning ability, and have a soft malleable handle, while also solving the problem of lint and particulate contamination.

In view of the above discussion, improved surgical towels with reduced lint particle generation are provided. In some embodiments, the surgical towels are fibrous substrates finished with a binder material that comprises about 0.5% to about 50% by weight of the fibrous substrate. In some embodiments, the surgical towels are fibrous substrates that include binder fibers that comprise about 0.5% to about 50% by weight of the fibrous substrate. In some embodiments, the surgical towels are fibrous substrates that include binder powder that comprises about 0.5% to about 50% by weight of the fibrous substrate. Surgical towels, according to embodiments of the present invention, can achieve lint particle generation of 5,000 or less according to INDA standard test 160.1. Moreover, in some embodiments, surgical towels can achieve lint particle generation of 2,500 or less, 1,000 or less, and 500 or less.

The surgical towel fibrous substrate, according to embodiments of the present invention, can be a nonwoven fabric, woven fabric, or knitted fabric. Exemplary nonwoven fabrics include, but are not limited to, spunlaced nonwovens, needlepunched nonwovens, carded thermal bonded nonwovens, wet laid nonwovens, spunmelt nonwovens. The fibrous substrate can also be a laminate of at least two separate nonwoven layers that are bonded together (e.g., adhesively bonded, thermally bonded, ultrasonically bonded, joined together via needling, stitching, or spunlacing, etc.). Exemplary fibers forming the fibrous substrate may include, but are not limited to, rayon, lyocell, Tencel, wood pulp, and cotton. In some embodiments, the fibrous substrate includes hydrophobic fibers that have been treated with hydrophilic material. In other embodiments, the fibrous substrate includes absorbent fibers.

In some embodiments, the towel has a weight of less than about 10 ounces per square yard, and an absorbent capacity of greater than about 250%. In some embodiments, the towel has a dry, wet, and solvent crockfastness value of at least a 3 according to AATCC Standard Test Method 8.

In some embodiments, binder material utilizes may include a colorant (e.g., a pigment or dye, etc.). In some embodiments the fibrous substrate may be subjected to one or more of the following operations to increase aesthetics and handle: embossing, creping, mechanically softening, crushing, calendaring, ring rolling, and stretching, etc.

The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.