Foam in wound treatment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hydrophilic foam material, which is of particular use in wound treatment, and to a method for producing said hydrophilic foam material. The hydrophilic foam material comprises nucleating particles, wherein at least 85% of all foam cells in said foam material have an average cell size of 0.01 mm 2 or less.

1 .- 14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A method for producing a hydrophilic polyurethane foam material, comprising the steps of:
 (i) preparing an aqueous mixture,   (ii) mixing said aqueous mixture with a prepolymer composition to form an emulsion, and   (iii) allowing the emulsion to cure, thereby producing said hydrophilic polyurethane foam material,   
       wherein nucleating particles, at a concentration of least 5% by weight of said prepolymer composition, are added to said aqueous mixture in step (i) and/or are present in said prepolymer composition of step (ii). 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein aqueous mixture of step (i) comprises a surfactant. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein nucleating particles, at a concentration of least 5% by weight of said prepolymer composition, are added to said aqueous mixture in step (i). 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein nucleating particles, at a concentration of least 5% by weight of said prepolymer composition, are present in said prepolymer composition of step (ii). 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the method produces a hydrophilic polyurethane foam material comprising nucleating particles, which are present at a concentration of at least 5% by weight of said foam material, relative to the overall weight of the foam material, wherein at least 85% of all foam cells in said foam material have an average cell size of 0.01 mm 2  or less, as measured by image analysis based on ISO 13322-1:2014. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said nucleating particles are present at a concentration of from 5 to 25% by weight of said prepolymer composition. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said nucleating particles have a particle size in the range of from 1 to 30 μm. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said nucleating particles are selected from the group consisting of alumina trihydrate, calcium carbonate, carbon black, magnesium oxide, lime, clay, and diatomaceous earth, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said nucleating particles comprise alumina trihydrate. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said prepolymer composition comprises an isocyanate-capped polyol or isocyanate-capped polyurethane or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said prepolymer composition comprises an isocyanate-capped polyol. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said prepolymer composition comprises an isocyanate-capped polyol selected from the group consisting of a polyester polyol, polyacrylate polyol, polyurethane polyol, polycarbonate polyol, polyether polyol, polyester-polyacrylate polyol, polyurethane polyacrylate polyol, polyurethane polyester polyol, polyurethane polyether polyol, polyurethane polycarbonate polyol, and polyester polycarbonate polyol. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said prepolymer composition derives from a reaction between a polyol, and a diisocyanate compound selected from the group consisting of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), toluene diisocyanate (TDI), methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), or any mixture thereof. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said aqueous mixture or said prepolymer composition comprises an antimicrobial agent. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein said antimicrobial agent comprises silver. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein said silver is a silver salt.