Device for obtaining stool samples
This invention relates to a stool sampling device which can be used by a patient, in the same manner as toilet tissue, to obtain a relatively constant volume stool sample which can then be tested for signs of gastro-intestinal bleeding. The device of this invention is an improvement of stool sampling devices disclosed in my co-pending applications, Ser. Nos. 55,636, filed July 9, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,964 and 110,437, filed Jan. 7, 1980, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,741. 
     One medical procedure frequently used on physicians&#39; patients involves the obtaining of a stool sample which is tested for traces of blood to determine the presence or absence of gastro-intestinal bleeding. This test is a conventional precaution for patients having an established history of gastro-intestinal bleeding and will also be used on patients who are anemic, and who complain of gastro-intestinal discomfort. This test is also used as a screening test during routine physical examinations. 
     A manner most commonly used to obtain the stool sample is by the physician&#39;s donning a rubber glove and manually inserting a finger into the rectum of the patient to obtain a stool smear. The stool is then transferred to a piece of absorbent paper and effective amounts of detecting agents such as guaiac, ortho-tolidine, or ortho-dianisidine and hydrogen peroxide are applied to the stool whereupon the presence of blood in the stool will cause a bluish coloration to appear. No color change indicates the absence of occult blood in the stool, and therefore, the absence of gastro-intestinal bleeding. This method of obtaining the stool sample is not sanitary and unpleasant for the patient and for the physician. 
     Another method for obtaining the required stool samples involves the use of a kit sold under the brand name Hemoccult by Smith Kline Diagnostics. The kit includes a packet made of paper and formed somewhat similarly to a match book. The packet has a tab-slot interlock which can be opened so that the packet can be unfolded. Inside of the packet there is disposed a sample-receiving pad which has been treated with guaiac, one of the detecting chemicals referred to above. A sample-obtaining wooden stick is included with the kit. The kit is designed for use by the patient in privacy as follows. The kit is given to the patient by the physician, or obtained at a pharmacy upon directive of the physician. The patient takes the kit home, and it is used subsequent to defecation. A scraping of the bowel movement is obtained by the patient from the toilet with the stick and some of the scraped material is transferred to the pad from the stick. The contaminated stick must then be discarded by the patient. The packet flap is then reclosed and the packet and sample are then returned to the physician&#39;s office for examination. It will be appreciated that this procedure is to some extent more desirable than the first above-described procedure in that it may be performed in privacy. Nevertheless, it is also an unclean procedure with no provision for guarding against contamination, and the manner of disposition of the specimen on the pad is somewhat distasteful in that the stool-contaminated pad is generally discarded in the trash in an unsealed state. Furthermore, the patient is instructed to bring or mail the stool-contaminated pad to the physician. The mailing of the stool-contaminated pad in a non-hermetically sealed state is unsanitary and contrary to U.S. postal regulations. 
     Other prior art stool sampling devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,718,431; 3,672,351; and 3,996,006. 
     I have devised a device which is used to procure stool samples, and which may be used in a conventional manner, in the privacy of one&#39;s home, or toilet in a physician&#39;s clinic or office, and which is clean and contamination-free and which is disclosed in my co-pending applications referred to above. 
     This invention relates to an improvement in my earlier concept which earlier concept enables a relatively constant volume of stool to be obtained when the sampling device is used. This improvement thereto results in a highlighting of the blue color observed when blood is present in the stool sample. Briefly, the device of this invention is a pad or packet having a number of constituent layers, the pad being used to obtain the stool specimen in the same manner as toilet tissue after defecation. Excess amounts of stool are removed from the pad by tearing off one of the constituent layers and discarding that layer in the toilet, that layer being biodegradable. The layer which is torn from the pad includes a perforated portion which overlies a stool retention portion whereby the perforated portion ensures that a relatively constant volume of stool is deposited on the retention portion when the device is used. The pad is then hermetically sealed and returned to the physician&#39;s office. The device is thus contamination and odor-free during transport. A sheet of absorbent material preferably coated with the guaiac reagent is included in the pad at an appropriate location. To examine the specimen for blood, the pad is opened and a second reagent, hydrogen peroxide, is applied to the guaiac impregnated sheet overlying the stool sample. Inspection for color change is made through the transparent outer cover of the device after which the pad is resealed and discarded. In this manner, the test is performed quickly, and the discarded pad is both contamination and odor free. 
     The outermost layer of the pad, which layer provides the hermetic seal, is a layer of transparent impermeable plastic. This layer underlies the stool retention layer so as to be adjacent to the side of the stool retention layer which is obverse to the surface upon which the stool is deposited. When the diagnostic reagents are added to the stool sample, the test result can be observed on the reverse side of the stool retention layer due to the transparency of the outermost layer of the pad and the seepage of fluids through the stool retention layer. When occult blood is present in the stool sample, there is visible through the transparent layer a plurality of dark stool spots, each of which spots is surrounded by a blue halo. The presence of the blue halos highlights the positive result and eliminates the possible masking of the blue color by the dark color of the stool, which occasionally happens with the prior art stool sampling procedures. Thus, the positive test result is rendered easier to see through the use of the transparent outer layer on the pad. 
     It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a device for the taking of stool samples to be used in performing blood-detecting testing. 
     It is an additional object of this invention to provide a device of the character described which can be used by a patient in the privacy of his home and at his convenience. 
     It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device of the character described which is used in a conventional manner, and which is contamination and odor free. 
     It is a further object to provide a device of the character described which enables a relatively constant volume of stool to be taken for testing when the device is used. 
     It is an additional object of this invention to provide a device of the character described wherein masking of a positive result is prevented. 
    
    
     These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a device made in accordance with this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the device shown after the layer containing excess stool has been removed and discarded; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the device shown after the hermetic seal has been achieved to render the device contamination and odor free; and 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the device showing how access to the stool sample is made for performing the test. 
    
    
     Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the stool sampling device of my invention. The device, denoted generally by the numeral 2, is a multi-layered assemblage which has the general pliancy and feel of a thickened piece of toilet tissue. The upper layer 4 is a sheet of semi-flexible material such as polyethylene plastic; paper-plastic laminate, or the like. On one side of the upper sheet 4, there is disposed an area comprising a plurality of small openings 6. The half of the sheet 4 which contains the openings 6 has deposited thereon a layer 8 of soft fibrous cellulosic material which is flocked onto the sheet 4 and provides the flocked half thereof with a soft texture similar to tissue paper. Thus, one half of the sheet 4 will have a soft, tissue-like texture, and the other half will have a smooth, shiny texture, like plastic. The flocking, of course, could be extended over the entire sheet 4, or deleted, if desired, without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
     Disposed beneath the openings 6, there is a somewhat enlarged pad 10 of absorbent paper, or the like. The pad 10 may cover the entire area of the sheet 14 if required for ease of manufacturing. A double-sided adhesive material layer provided with a window 13 overlies the pad 10 and serves to secure the pad 10 and the perforated half of the overlying sheet 4 to a bottom sheet 14, the latter of which is formed from a transparent impermeable plastic material. The bottom sheet 14 is also semi-flexible so as to maintain the overall flexibility and pliability of the entire laminate. The layer 12 may take the form of a double-sided sticky tape. Disposed on the half of the bottom sheet 14 not covered by the adhesive layer are a plurality of adhesive buttons 16 which serve to releasably adhere the non-perforated half of the sheet 4 to the sheet 14. The sheet 14 is provided with an opening 18 on one of its halves, and the opening 18 is closed and sealed by means of a conforming closure member 20 made from a similar impermeable material as the sheet 14. The closure member 20 includes a pull tab 22 and a border 24 of resealable adhesive which serves to secure the closure member 20 to the sheet 14. On the inside surface of the sheet 14 and overlying the opening 18 is a sheet 15 of absorbent material which is relatively transparent and porous. This sheet 15 is pre-impregnated with the guaiac reagent in dry form. This sheet 15 may be made from the type of tissue commonly used for cleaning lenses. 
     The appearance of the device 2 as dispensed by the physician, pharmacy, or the like, in its ready-to-use condition, is shown in FIG. 2. 
     The device 2 is used to obtain a stool sample in the following manner. Immediately after defecation, the device is used in the same manner as one uses toilet tissue, and the flocked portion of the device is drawn across the anus, whereby a stool smear is obtained on the flocking 8 and on the portion of the pad 10 which underlies the openings 6. It will be appreciated that the openings 6 will act to screen the stool from the pad 10 so that the stool sample will be deposited on the pad 10 in a plurality of spots which will be volumetrically controlled by the area of each opening 6. The sheet 4 is then pulled away from the remaining portions of the device and discarded into the toilet where it is flushed away with the stool. It will be noted that the adhesive buttons 16 will easily allow the corresponding half of the sheet 4 to be removed from the sheet 14 (as shown partially in phantom in FIG. 2) whereupon the remainder of the sheet 4 and the flocked portion 8 thereon will be peeled off of the resealable adhesive layer 12. 
     It will be appreciated that in circumstances where it is medically necessary to obtain a stool specimen from only the central portion of the stool, the stool may be collected separately and the required portion smeared upon the perforated portion of sheet 4. In this case, although full advantage is not taken of the sanitary aspects of the invention, the merits of relative quantitation of stool and sanitary transportation as well as sanitary disposal are maintained. 
     After the sheet 4 has been removed from the device 2, the latter appears as shown in FIG. 3. It will be noted that the pad 10, upon which multiple spots of stool will have been deposited, remains adhered to the sheet 14 by the adhesive layer 12. The half S of the sheet 14 is then folded over on top of other half S&#39; of the sheet 14 to form a pouch configured as shown in FIG. 4. The folded-over half S is pressed against the exposed surface of the adhesive layer 12 so as to hermetically seal the resulting pouch whereby contamination and odor from the encased stool sample is prevented. It will be noted that the folding operation brings the sealed opening 18 into overlying relationship with the pad 10. It will also be noted that the folding operation brings the guaiac impregnated paper sheet 15 into overlying relationship with the stool spots on the pad 10. 
     The sealed pouch is then delivered to the physician&#39;s office testing laboratory, or the like, wherein the encased stool sample will be tested for occult blood. To expose the stool sample for testing, the closure member 20 is peeled back from the opening 18, as shown in FIG. 5. The hydrogen peroxide is then applied to the stool sample on the pad 10 through the guaiac sheet 15. Application of the hydrogen peroxide to the sheet 15 places the guaiac in solution whereby both reagents are applied to the stool spots. The presence of occult blood in the sample will be indicated by a blue color which will be visible through the transparent sheet 14 or directly through the relatively transparent reagent sheet 15. After the test has been performed, the closure member 20 is resealed over the opening 18 and the used pouch is discarded, in an hermetically sealed condition, for subsequent disposal, as by incineration or the like. In some applications, such as for use in testing hospitalized patients, where adequate disposal facilities exist and cost is a major factor, closure member 20 could be made non-resealable to reduce production costs. Additionally, the reagent-impregnated paper 15 could be omitted to allow the ready use of special testing reagents. Neither of these modifications departs from the intended purpose of this invention. It will be noted that, during the testing procedure, the underlying portion of the sheet 14 provides a transparent impermeable barrier which prevents reagents, fecal material, viruses, bacteria, or the like from seeping through the pouch onto the laboratory bench, etc., while at the same time permitting visual observation of the results of the reagent application if the pad is turned over. The results observed through the transparent sheet 14, when the test is positive, are a plurality of dark spots, each of which is surrounded by a halo of blue color. 
     It will be readily appreciated that the device of this invention provides a means for obtaining a relatively constant volume stool sample which is simple and natural to use, which can be used by a patient in privacy, and which circumvents the embarrassing aspects of the prior art devices and procedures. The sample, once obtained, is hermetically sealed whereby contamination and odor problems are avoided. Still further, the device enables the actual test to be performed without the possibility of reagent or contamination leakage occurring, eliminates the possibility of the stool color masking or otherwise obscuring the blue color which is present in a positive test result, and also enables the discarded tested stool sample to be contained in an hermetically sealed pouch. 
     Since many changes and variations of the disclosed embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the inventive concept, it is not intended to limit the invention otherwise than as required by the appended claims.