Surgical drain for shunting fluid

Claim 1

A surgical drain for shunting fluid from a body cavity, said drain being adapted to be subcutaneously implanted, said drain comprising: a. an inlet conduit adapted to have a first end thereof disposed within a body cavity; b. an outlet conduit adapted to have a first end thereof positioned outside of said body cavity for discharge of fluid, said first end having a normally closed, one-way slit valve formed therein and adapted to be opened by a differential pressure between the body cavity and the position of discharge of the fluid; and c. an elongate, generally cylindrically shaped, pump tube constructed from a resilient, nonmetallic material, such as silicone rubber, and interconnecting said inlet and outlet conduits, said pump tube including means for determining the clogging up of said surgical drain at any one of three separate points, said means including: 1. an inlet into said pump tube, said inlet comprising an end wall integrally formed with said pump tube, said end wall having a slit formed therein to form a one-way slit valve, said slit adapted to be opened by digital pressure applied thereto in a direction substantially in the plane of a slit and radially outwardly from the slit without creating undesirable back pressure in the inlet conduit, thereby enabling the determination whether said slit valve has become clogged up, 2. a single pump chamber disposed downstream from the slit valve of said pump tube, taken with respect to the direction of fluid flow from the inlet of the pump tube to the outlet conduit, (i) said pump chamber being of sufficient length that, upon actuation thereof by application of digital pressure thereto, fluid is caused to flow only through the outlet conduit and the slit valve formed in the outlet conduit without opening of otherwise affecting the operation of the slit valve or the pump tube thereby enabling the determination whether clogging up of said outlet conduit or its slit valve exists, (ii) said pump chamber, upon actuation thereof by application of digital pressure thereto and simultaneous opening of the pump tube slit valve by application of digital pressure thereto in the plane of the slit thereof, causing fluid to flow in opposite directions, thereby enabling the determination whether clogging up of said inlet conduit exists where it has previously been determined that neither the pump tube inlet slit valve nor the outlet conduit and its slit valve is clogged up, And 3. means for affixing and maintaining said pump tube, following subcutaneously implanting thereof, within body tissue such that the slit in the pump tube slit valve is disposed in a predetermined position substantially normal to the skin whereby digital pressure applied to said slit valve will distort said end wall and open the slit without rotating said slit out of its said predetermined position normal to the skin, whereby said means enables the opening of said pump tube slit valve with the application of minimum digital pressure.