GB2031280A - Urostomy bag - Google Patents

Abstract

A Urostomy Bag has a drain valve at a lower region thereof. The valve is formed by a short flexible tube 40 that can be bent or kinked through an obtuse angle or through substantially a right angle to cut off flow. There is a securing means for temporarily holding the tube in a kinked condition. This securing means may be a stopper 50 fixed to the bag which can be pushed into the open end of the kinked tube. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Urostomy bag This invention relates to a urostomy bag.

According to the present invention, there is provided a urostomy bag having a drain valve at a lower region thereof, characterised in that the valve is formed by a short flexible tube that can be bent or kinked through an obtuse angle or substantially a right angle to cut off flow; there being a tube securing means for temporarily holding the tube in its kinked condition.

Acording to a particular aspect of the invention, there is provided a urostomy bag having a front wall and a rear wall secured together around their periphery, the rear wall having an orifice therein which is surrounded by a coupling member, there being a pair of intermediate walls one of which is secured around the orifice and is secured in faceto-face relationship to the other wall of the pair at spaced zones near to the lower edges of the intermediate walls located below the orifice.

With such an arrangement, the marginal surfaces of the intermediate walls between the zones where they are secured together tend to lie against one another, and in effect form a parallel series of non-return flap valves, allowing passage of urine from an upper or "first" space in the bag located between the intermediate walls and in communication with the orifice to a lower or "second" space in the bag located between the front and rear walls, and substantially preventing passage or urine back into the first space even when the bag is subjected to accidental impacts or pressure.It will be realised that with this construction the space defined between the front wall and the front one of the intermediate walls is in unrestricted communication with the second space and serves as a space into which the urine can flow if the lower part of the bag is compressed, without, however, allowing the urine to reach the orifice and contact the skin of the wearer of the bag.

In this specification, the words "front" and "rear" respectively to mean the wall of the bag further from and nearer to the body of the wearer when the bag is in its normal use position.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the drain valve is provided at the lower edge region of the bag. The valve takesthe form of a short flexible tube extending through a plastics connecting plate which is welded to the bag front and rear walls. The plate may carry or be made integral with a stopper which is a push fit in the lower end of the tube, and the tube and stopper are preferably located so that the tube must be bent through approximately 900 before the stopper can be placed in the tube end. A reinforcing rib may extend from the plate surface to a part of the tube within the bag. The plate is preferably flexible.

The invention will be better understood from the following particular description of one example thereof, given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which~ Figure 1 is an elevation view of the rear of a bag according to the invention; and Figure 2 is a partial section on the line Il-Il in Figure 1, but showing the drain valve tube in its "down" i.e. open position and omitting the stopper.

The bag shown in Figures 1 and 2 has a front wall 10 and a rear wall 12 of a synthetic plastics material which may for example be transparent, These are secured together by a heat weld 14 around their periphery so producing a substantially flat bag. The rear wall has an orifice 1 6 therein, and around the periphery of the orifice is secured to a coupling member 1 8. This may for example be a coupling member as disclosed and claimed in our Patent Application No. 1 3411/77, to which the reader is referred for a disclosure of how such a coupling member may be used to couple with a counterpart member secured to a pad of skincompatible material such as that known as "STOMAHESIVE" (Regd. Trade Mark) so fixing the bag to the body of the wearer.

A front intermediate wall 20 and a rear intermediate wall 22 are sealed at their edges to the other walls by the heat weld 14, and they both are located parallel to the walls 10 and 12 when the bag is flat. The intermediate walls 20 and 22 extend downwardly part-way down the height of the bag, and are free of attachment to the front and rear walls 10, 12 along their lower edges 24, 26. The lower edges 24, 26 are in practice located about 20 millimetres below the bottom of the orifice 1 6. The intermediate walls 20 and 22 are welded to each other at four spaced zones 28 linearly arranged across the bag. Between these zones the walls 20 and 22 are not connected to each other.In use, urine discharged into the bag enters first the space between the walls 20 and 22 and then falls down the spaces between the welded portions 28 into the space 34 between the lower portions of the walls 1 0 and 12. If then the bag is accidentally struck or squeezed, the urine will tend to move upwardly into the regions 36 and 38 (Figure 2) and will be kept away from the orifice 1 6, so reducing the discomfort to the wearer and the risk of escape of liquid.

The drain valve is formed by a short flexible tube 40 which is moulded integral with a flexible plate 42: both of these are preferably made of synthetic plastics material. The tube 40 has an upper portion within the bag which is integral with a reinforcing rib 44 also connected to the plate 42.

The tube also has a lower portion 46 which can be bent through approximately 900 as indicated in Figure 1 (or through an obtuse angle in other embodiments, as may be necessary in order to fully close the tube). Such a bending closes off the tube and provides the closed condition of the valve.

A tube securing means formed by a stopper 50 is connected by a connecting tab 52 to the plate 42; the positioning is such that the stopper can readily be placed in the end of the bent tube as seen in Figure 1. It is an advantageous feature of this invention that the tube 40, the plate 42, the rib 44, the tab 52 and stopper 50 are all moulded as a single part, for example of ethylene vinyl acetate (e.v.a.), in a single moulding operation.

Also this part is readily secured to a lower region of the bag by a single heat welding operating. The wall of the tube 40 is preferably thin. For example it may have a wall thickness of one-half millimetre or less. This feature is of value in ensuring that the kinking of the tube collapses it so that its opposite walls touch, thereby closing off the through passage.

Such a construction of a bag and drain valve enables an extremely light product to be made, and use of the valve is simple and does not require two hands. The bag and valve are comfortable for a wearer.

Claims (8)

1. A urostomy bag having a drain valve at a lower region thereof, characterised in that the valve is formed by a short flexible tube that can be bent or kinked through an obtuse angle or substantially a right angle to cut off flow; there being a tube securing means for temporarily holding the tube in its kinked condition.

2. A ursotomy bag having a front wall and a rear wall secured together around their periphery, the rear wall having an orifice therein which is surrounded by a coupling member, there being a pair of intermediate walls one of which is secured around the orifice and is secured in face-to-face relationship to the other wall of the pair at spaced zones near to the lower edges of the intermediate walls located below the orifice.

3. A bag according to claim 1 in which there is at least one intermediate wall positioned to avoid splash-back of liquid contents of the bag into an upper region of the bag.

4. A bag according to claim 1 in which the valve includes a mounting plate through which the tube passes and a stopper dimensioned to fit in an end of the tube.

5. A bag according to claim 4 in which the stopper constitutes the tube securing means.

6. A bag according to claim 4 in which the tube, the plate and the stopper are all made in one piece from plastics material.

7. A bag according to claim 6 in which the plastics material is ethylene vinyl acetate.

8. A urostomy bag substantially as illustrated in the drawings and described with reference thereto.