Importance

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Abstract

An inflatable thermal blanket includes an inflatable covering with a head end, a foot end, two edges, an undersurface and a drape. The inflatable covering is inflated through an inlet at the foot end by a thermally-controlled inflating medium. An aperture array on the undersurface of the inflatable covering exhausts the thermally-controlled inflating medium from the inflatable covering. An uninflatable section is provided at an end of the inflatable covering to provide the drape. When inflated, the inflatable thermal blanket provides a bath of thermally-controlled inflating medium through the apertures. When inflated, the inflatable thermal blanket covers a patient, while the drape retains heat from the inflating medium to contribute to patient warming and to insulate the bare skin of the patient from excessive conductive heat from a hose connected to the inlet. The drape preferably is a foot drape formed from an uninflatable extension of the inflatable covering at the foot end.

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First Claim