Colloquia

Summary

Postoperative wound drainage is aimed at minimizing complications and promoting optimal wound healing. While these systems offer benefits in various surgical procedures, including enhanced wound healing and reduced drainage output, their efficacy remains subject to debate. This paper presents an approach to address this debate by designing an adjustable adaptive pressure regulating valve for postoperative wound drainage. Through design considerations, simulations, prototyping, and experimental validation, two distinct concepts, namely the membrane valve and spring valve, were developed. Both valves demonstrated adaptability for varying wound pressures. However, differences in sustainability and cost considerations emerged, with the membrane valve offering potential advantages in terms of simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Future work includes refining material behavior predictions, exploring alternative materials for mass production, and investigating the implementation of adaptive valves in wound drainage systems to further optimize patient outcomes.