Textile Fabric For Placing On The Skin And/Or A Wound Of A Patient, And Transdermal Patch And Arrangement Consisting Of A Transdermal Patch And An Evaluation Unit

Abstract

The invention relates to a textile fabric to be placed onto the skin and/or a wound of a patient, comprising a top side facing away from the skin and an underside which faces the skin and on which the textile fabric has a moisture-impermeable barrier 14, wherein the textile fabric is formed from non-conductive warp threads and non-conductive weft threads and from conductive warp threads and conductive weft threads which are arranged such that an electrically conductive structure 5 consisting of conductive warp and/or weft threads K, S is formed in the textile fabric. The invention also relates to a transdermal patch for applying an active substance, contained in an active substance reservoir 17, over the patient's skin, comprising a textile fabric of this type, and to an assembly consisting of a transdermal patch and an evaluation unit 20 for detecting the amount of active substance in the active substance reservoir in the transdermal patch. The preferred embodiment of the invention provides that measured values are acquired using a first and second sensor 6, 7, which are formed by conductive warp and/or weft threads K, S. The first sensor 6 is arranged in the region of a first opening 18 and the second sensor 7 is arranged in the region of a second opening 19 in the moisture-impermeable barrier 14. One of the two sensors 6, 7 is a moisture sensor that allows moisture, in particular perspiration, to be measured on the patient's skin, whilst the other sensor 7, 6 can be used to detect any given state or any given variable. By measuring the moisture, it is possible to compensate for the effect of perspiration from the patient's skin on the detection of said state or variable, for example the amount of active substance in a transdermal patch.

Claims

1. Textile fabric to be placed onto the skin and/or a wound of a patient, comprising a top side facing away from the skin and/or wound and an underside which faces the skin and/or wound and on which the textile fabric has a moisture-impermeable barrier, the textile fabric being formed from non-conductive warp threads and non-conductive weft threads and from conductive warp threads and/or conductive weft threads which are arranged such that an electrically conductive structure consisting of conductive warp and/or weft threads is formed in the textile fabric, characterised in that the moisture-impermeable barrier on the underside of the textile fabric comprises at least one opening, conductive warp and/or weft threads being arranged in the region of the opening in the moisture-impermeable barrier such that the conductive warp and/or weft threads can come into contact with moisture from the patient's skin in the region of the opening.

2. Textile fabric according to claim 1, characterised in that conductive warp and/or weft threads form a first sensor and conductive warp and/or weft threads form a second sensor, the conductive warp and/or weft threads which form the first sensor being arranged in the region of a first opening in the moisture-impermeable barrier and the conductive warp and/or weft threads which form the second sensor being arranged in the region of a second opening in the barrier.

3. Textile fabric according to claim 2, characterised in that the first sensor and the second sensor are formed as resistive sensors.

4. Textile fabric according to claim 2, characterised in that the first sensor and the second sensor are formed in each case by two warp threads or weft threads which are arranged at a spacing from one another.

5. Textile fabric according to claim 2, characterised in that conductive warp and/or weft threads form connection lines for the first sensor and conductive warp and/or weft threads form connection lines for the second sensor.

6. Textile fabric according to claim 5, characterised in that the ends of the connection lines of the first sensor are formed as connection contacts and the ends of the connection lines of the second sensor are formed as connection contacts.

7. Textile fabric according to claim 6, characterised in that a portion of the textile fabric is formed as a connection tab, on which the connection contacts are arranged.

8. Transdermal patch for applying an active substance to the skin and/or wound of a patient, comprising a textile fabric according to claim 2 and an active substance reservoir, characterised in that the active substance reservoir is arranged in the region of the conductive warp and/or weft threads of the first sensor, which is arranged in the region of the first opening, such that the first sensor can come into contact with both the active substance reservoir and moisture from the skin.

9. Transdermal patch according to claim 1, characterised in that the first opening in the textile fabric occupies a larger surface area than the second opening.

10. Assembly comprising a transdermal patch according to claim 8 and an evaluation unit for detecting the amount of active substance in the active substance reservoir.

11. Device according to claim 10, characterised in that the evaluation unit comprises an apparatus for acquiring the measured values from the first sensor and for acquiring the measured values from the second sensor, which apparatus is configured to obtain, from the measured values from the first sensor, a first measured value which correlates with the amount of active substance in the active substance reservoir and with moisture on the skin, and to obtain, from the measured values from the second sensor, a second measured value which correlates with the moisture on the skin.

12. Device according to claim 11, characterised in that the evaluation unit is configured to correct the first measured value using a correction value obtained from the second measured value.

13. Device according to claim 11, characterised in that the evaluation unit is configured to generate a signal on the basis of the evaluation of the measured values from the first and second sensors, which signal indicates that there is active substance in the active substance reservoir, and/or to generate a signal which indicates that there is no active substance in the active substance reservoir.

14. Device according to claim 12, characterised in that the evaluation unit is configured to compare the first measured value with the second measured value, a signal being generated which indicates that there is no active substance in the active substance reservoir when the first measured value is the same as the second measured value or the difference between the first and second measured values is smaller than a predetermined limit value.

15. Device according to claim 13, characterised in that the warp and/or weft threads of the electrically conductive structure are arranged such that four electric conductor track portions are arranged in the textile fabric at a spacing from one another, two conductor track portions being arranged at a spacing from one another in the region of the first opening and forming the first sensor, and two conductor track portions being arranged at a spacing from one another in the region of the second opening and forming the second sensor, and a first connection line is formed leading to the first conductor track portion, a second connection line is formed leading to the second conductor track portion, a third connection line is formed leading to the third conductor track portion, a fourth connection line is formed leading to the fourth conductor track portion, and a connecting line is formed interconnecting the first and third conductor track portions, connection contacts being formed at the ends of the connection lines, and in that the evaluation unit comprises an apparatus which is configured to measure the electrical resistance between the first connection contact and the second connection contact, the electrical resistance between the first connection contact and the third connection contact, the electrical resistance between the first connection contact and the fourth connection contact, the electrical resistance between the second connection contact and the third connection contact, the electrical resistance between the second connection contact and the fourth connection contact, and the electrical resistance between the third and fourth connection contacts.

Description

[0025] An embodiment of the invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0026] FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic view of a transdermal patch,

[0027] FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section through the transdermal patch of FIG. 1,

[0028] FIG. 3 is an equivalent electrical circuit diagram of the electrically conductive structure of the transdermal patch of FIG. 1, and

[0029] FIG. 4 is an equivalent electrical circuit diagram for one embodiment.

[0030] In the following, an embodiment is described for the use of the textile fabric according to the invention as a textile transdermal patch which has an active substance reservoir.

[0031] FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic plan view of an embodiment of the active substance patch according to the invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section through the active substance patch.

[0032] The transdermal patch comprises a multilayer fabric 10, which is described in detail in WO 2011/116943. The multilayer fabric 10 consists of electrically conductive and electrically non-conductive warp and weft threads. The electrically conductive and electrically non-conductive warp and weft threads are arranged such that the fabric comprises a lower layer facing the patient's skin, a middle layer, and an upper layer facing away from the patient's skin. However, the separation of the fabric into a plurality of layers is merely used to aid understanding of the fabric structure, since the layers cannot be precisely separated from one another in practice. A structure of electrical conductor tracks is formed in the lower and middle layers of the fabric, in that the electrically conductive warp and/or weft threads are arranged at the intersection points such that they are either interconnected in an electrically conductive manner or are electrically insulated from one another. The upper layer of the fabric can be formed as an anti-contact insulation layer.

[0033] The active substance patch comprises a rectangular portion 11 having two longitudinal sides and two narrow sides. A connection tab 12 for connecting to an evaluation unit is preferably arranged in the centre of one of the two narrow or longitudinal sides. Two separate connection tabs can also be provided instead of one single connection tab, it being possible to establish an electrical connection between the first sensor (active substance) and the evaluation unit by means of one connection tab and to establish an electrical connection between the second sensor (perspiration) and the evaluation unit by means of the other connection tab.

[0034] The electrically conductive warp threads are denoted by K and the electrically conductive weft threads are denoted by S. FIG. 1 does not show the electrically non-conductive warp and weft threads.

[0035] Four conductive weft threads S (S.sub.1, S.sub.2, S.sub.3, S.sub.4) lead from the connection tab 12 to the opposite side of the fabric, whilst on either side of the connection tab, two conductive weft threads S (S.sub.5, S.sub.6, S.sub.7, S.sub.8) each lead to the opposite side. On the half of the rectangular portion facing the connection tab 12, four conductive warp threads K (K.sub.1, K.sub.2, K.sub.3, K.sub.4) extend between the opposite sides, and one conductive warp thread K (K.sub.5) extends on the half facing away from the connection tab. Circles mark the intersection points (contact points) of the conductive warp and weft threads K, S at which the warp and weft threads K, S are in electrical contact.

[0036] The ends of the conductive warp and weft threads K, S at the connection tab 12 are formed as connection contacts 1, 2, 3, 4, to which an electrical contact part (not shown in FIG. 1) of an evaluation unit can be connected.

[0037] The conductive warp and weft threads K, S form an electrically conductive structure 5 in the fabric 10. The warp and weft threads K, S are arranged in the fabric such that the electrically conductive structure 5 comprises a first resistive sensor 6 and a second resistive sensor 7, which are each formed by electrically conductive portions S3, S4 and S1, S2, respectively, of two parallel weft threads. In this case, each two adjacent conductive portions of the weft threads form electrical conductor track portions of a measurement site (sensor).

[0038] In a special alternative embodiment, the measurement sites each comprise one weft thread and one warp thread, which intersects said weft thread in the plan view of the fabric, the warp thread and the weft thread being insulated from each other at the intersection point in the three-dimensional fabric. When the intersection point gets wet, it becomes electrically conductive.

[0039] The fabric 10 consisting of non-conductive warp threads and non-conductive weft threads and conductive warp threads and conductive weft threads comprises a top side 10A facing away from the patient's skin. On the underside 10B facing the patient, the fabric is provided with an adhesive layer 13, on the underside of which there is a barrier 14 which is impermeable to liquid. The underside of the barrier is provided with an adhesive layer 15, to which a removable layer 16 adheres, for example a silicon film, which is removed prior to the active substance patch being applied to the patient's skin.

[0040] The fabric 10 comprises an active substance reservoir 17 (only shown indicatively) in which a particular amount of active substance is contained. A portion of the fabric is for example impregnated with the active substance.

[0041] In the barrier 14 provided with the adhesive layer 15, a first opening 18 is provided below the two parallel portions of the weft threads S3, S4 of the first resistive sensor 6, and a second opening 19 is provided below the two parallel portions of the weft threads S1, S2 of the second resistive sensor 7. The first opening 18 has a larger surface area than the second opening 19. The portion of the fabric having the active substance reservoir 17 is located above the first opening 18, so that once the silicon film 16 (also referred to as a liner) is removed, the active substance can come into contact with the skin and/or wound of the patient through the first opening 18.

[0042] The active substance reservoir 17 extends from the adhesive layer 13 into the opening 18 in the barrier 14, which is impermeable to liquid, and can touch the skin and/or wound of the patient when the silicon paper (liner) is removed and the patch is stuck to the patient's skin by the (thin) adhesive layer 15.

[0043] The electrical resistance of the portion of the fabric between the portions of the weft threads S3, S4 forming the first sensor 6 is dependent on the amount of active substance in the active substance reservoir 17. Therefore, measuring the resistance allows the amount of active substance in the reservoir to be monitored. The electrical resistance can, however, also be changed by perspiration, which can come into contact with the first sensor 6 through the opening 18. This can distort the measurement result. The active substance patch therefore provides the second sensor 7. The resistance of the portion of the fabric between the portions of the weft threads S1, S2 forming the second sensor 7 is dependent on the moisture on the patient's skin, i.e. the amount of perspiration that comes into contact with the second sensor 7 through the second opening 19. Since the active substance does not come into contact with the second sensor 7, the second sensor only measures the amount of perspiration on the skin, and this represents a correction value for the measured amount of active substance.

[0044] FIG. 3 is an equivalent electrical circuit diagram of the electrically conductive structure 5 of the active substance patch shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Like parts are provided with like reference numerals in the figures. The conductor track portions of the first sensor 6 and the conductor track portions of the second sensor 7, which are formed by the respective portions of the weft threads, are located at the points of contact with the patient's skin in the first and second openings 18, 19 in the barrier 14. A total of four conductor track portions M1, M2, M3, M4, which are arranged at a spacing from one another, are thus produced in the textile fabric, the third and fourth conductor track portions M3, M4 being arranged at a spacing from one another in the region of the first opening 18 and the first and second conductor track portions M1, M2 being arranged at a spacing from one another in the region of the second opening 19. The two conductor track portions in the first opening form the first sensor, whereas the two conductor track portions in the second opening form the second sensor. As a result, the sensors are formed from conductive portions of the warp and/or weft threads. The electrically conductive structure 5 further comprises a first connection line 1A leading to the first conductor track portion M1, a second connection line 2A leading to the second conductor track portion M2, a third connection line 3A leading to the third conductor track portion M3, a fourth connection line 4A leading to the fourth conductor track portion M4, and a connecting line L interconnecting the first and third conductor track portions M1, M3, the connection contacts 1, 2, 3, 4 being formed at the ends of the connection lines.

[0045] The resistance xP of the fabric between the conductor track portions M3 and M4, i.e. the measured value from the first sensor 6, is proportional to the amount of active substance and perspiration, whilst the resistance xS of the fabric between the conductor track portions M1 and M2, i.e. the measured value from the second sensor 7, is proportional to the amount of perspiration. The connecting line L has a resistance xL. The resistance of the connection lines 1A to 4A is disregarded.

[0046] The resistance xS measured between the connection contacts 1 and 2 is dependent on the amount of perspiration, whilst the resistance xP measured between the connection contacts 3 and 4 is dependent on the amount of perspiration and the amount of active substance. The resistance xL of the connecting line L is measured between the connection contacts 1 and 3.

[0047] The resistance xLP measured between the connection contacts 1 and 4 is dependent on the resistance xL of the connecting line L and on the amount of perspiration and active substance, and the resistance xLS measured between the connection contacts 2 and 3 is dependent on the resistance xL of the connecting line L and on the amount of perspiration. The resistance xLSP measured between the connection contacts 2 and 4 is dependent on the resistance xL of the connecting line L and on the amount of perspiration and active substance.

[0048] If xP=xS, the conclusion can be drawn that the measured resistance can only be attributed to the perspiration, i.e. that all of the active substance in the active substance reservoir has been used. It can also be concluded that all the active substance has been used if xLSP=xL+2 xS or xLSP=xL+2 xP (xS=xP). If xLSPxL2xS0, however, the conclusion can be drawn that there is still some active substance in the active substance reservoir.

[0049] For one embodiment of a textile fabric, the following values are produced, by way of example, for the electrical resistances which are based on empirical values in known thread systems.

TABLE-US-00001 xS [] MIN 100 (sample is wet) DESIRED 100000000 MAX 1000000000 (sample is dry) (variable) xL [] MIN 30 DESIRED 60 MAX 100 (variable) xLP [] MIN 130 DESIRED 100060 MAX 1000000100 (calculated value) xLS [] MIN 130 DESIRED 100000060 MAX 1000000100 (calculated value) xLSP [] MIN 230 DESIRED 100100060 MAX 2000000100 (calculated value) xP [] MIN 100 DESIRED 100000 MAX 1000000000

[0050] FIG. 4 is an equivalent electrical circuit diagram for the embodiment having the resistances S (perspiration) and P (active substance) and L (connecting line).

[0051] For evaluating the measurement results, provision is made of an evaluation unit 20 which comprises a connection cable 21 having a connecting part 22 which has four connection contacts 23, 24, 25, 26 connected to the connection contacts 1, 2, 3, 4 of the connection tab 12 of the active substance patch (FIG. 3). The evaluation unit 20 comprises an apparatus which is configured to measure the electrical resistance xS between the first connection contact 1 and the second connection contact 2, the electrical resistance xL between the first connection contact 1 and the third connection contact 3, the electrical resistance xLP between the first connection contact 1 and the fourth connection contact 4, the electrical resistance xLS between the second connection contact 2 and the third connection contact 3, the electrical resistance xLSP between the second connection contact 2 and the fourth connection contact 4, and the electrical resistance xP between the third and fourth connection contacts 3, 4.

[0052] In one embodiment, the evaluation unit 20 is configured to compare the difference xPxS with a predetermined limit value, which can also be zero (xP=xS). If the difference xPxS is greater than or equal to the limit value, the evaluation unit 20 generates a signal indicating that there is still a sufficient amount of active substance in the active substance reservoir. If the difference xPxS is less than the limit value, however, the evaluation unit 20 generates a signal indicating that there is no active substance left in the active substance reservoir. If xLSPxL2 xS0, the evaluation unit 20 generates a signal indicating that there is still some active substance in the active substance reservoir.

[0053] An alternative embodiment provides that the absolute amount of active substance is measured using a correction of the measured values. In this embodiment, a function describing the dependence of the resistance measured using the first sensor 6 on the amount of active substance is stored in a memory 20A in the evaluation unit 20. This function can be determined during tests. The evaluation unit 20 is configured to calculate a value for the amount of active substance from the resistance value measured using the first sensor. At the same time, the second sensor 7 measures a value for the amount of perspiration, an empirically determined function also being stored for the dependence of the resistance on the amount of perspiration. In addition, a correction function is stored in the memory 20A in the evaluation unit 20, and this can be used to correct the previously calculated value for the amount of active substance on the basis of the measured amount of perspiration. As a result, it is possible to determine an exact value for the amount of active substance, which value is not affected by the perspiration. The correction function can be determined during tests.