GB2215608A

GB2215608A - Ostomy bag including a filter

Info

Publication number: GB2215608A
Application number: GB8809222A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ronald Andrew Plass; Gerald Thomas Whiting; Peter Leslie Steer
Original assignee: ER Squibb and Sons LLC
Current assignee: ER Squibb and Sons LLC
Priority date: 1988-03-07
Filing date: 1988-04-19
Publication date: 1989-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 2008-04-19
Also published as: ZA891297B; GB2215605A; GB8809222D0; GB2215608B; GB8805361D0; GB2215605B

Abstract

A bag or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body is made of two superposed sheets of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges and has a filter attached to an upper part of an interior surface of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, and an intervening wall is included to separate the filter region from the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said wall being characterised by having a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square metre) and each hole having maximum dimension of from 130 to 340 microns.

Description

22 15608 BAG INCLUDING A FILTER This invention relates to a bag or pouch

including a filter and for receiving discharge from the human body. Examples of such bags or pouches are ostomy pouches and wound drainage bags.

The prior art is replete with designs of filter and with proposals for their inclusion in an ostomy bag, all directed at the problem of allowing escape of flatus gases from the bag while removing noxious-smelling components from such gases. Examples of proposals can be seen in U.K. Patents Nos. 1 117 204, 1405 032y 1 462 492y 1 595 047, 1 595 906, 1 596 496, 2 036 564 and 2 059 797 and Canadian Patent 631 987, but there are many others. It has proved difficult to meet the important requirements of good filtering efficiency, comfort in wear, and minimum filter thickness. It will be appreciated that as an ostomy bag is worn under clothing, the bag plus filter desirably should be unobtrusive. Comfort in wear firstly requires flexibility of the filter as well as the bag and it is also desirable that the filter parts should be spaced frorn the tender stornal region. The present invention aims to solve or at least greatly mitigate these problems.

The present Applicant has suggested in U.K. Patent No. 2 139 501B that an ostomy bag particularly for lleostor-ny patients should be constructed with an intervening wall dividing the bag into two chambers. The present invention improves upon this concept by providing an intervening wall of a particularly advantageous nature.

According to the present invention, a bag or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body is made of two superposed sheets of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges and has a filter attached to an upper part of an interior surface of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, and an intervening wall is included to separate the filter region frorn the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said intervening wall being.characterised by having a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square metre) and each hole having a maximum dimension of from 130 to 340 microns.

It has been surprisingly found that these values allow fully adequate flow of gas from the bag interior to the filter region and yet do not permit any substantial wetting of the filter, or clogging of the filter by body exudations such as faecal slurry.

It is preferred that each hole is substantially circular, and that the holes should be substantially uniformly spaced over the whole of the intervening wall.

The filter preferably (but not necessarily) includes the following components laminated together in the following order (a) a layer of hot-melt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to a wall of the bag; (b) a layer of microfine non-woven material; (c) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter member of carbon-impregnated polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; and (f) a layer of non-woven fabric.

The filter is, as stated, disposed in the space defined between the bag wall and the intervening wall. Preferably the bag wall has an 5-shaped cut therein to allow exit of flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter. The intervening wall in use serves to permit the passage of flatus gases from bag interior to filter but substantially prevent passage of liquids or solids.

As an alternative, any suitable filter may be used.

The layer of non-woven fabric in the preferred filter has an air permeabhity in the range 0.25-1.0 C.C.1 cms 21sec at 10 mrri W.P.G., and has a weight of 64 gm1M2 plus or minus 10%. The resulting laminated filter assembly has been found to have excellent deodorising properties as well as high transmissibility to gas. In an H25 deodorisation test, a fully satisfactory deodorisation was achieved with a flow of over 9 litres in 45 minutes.

The invention will be better understood from the following description of a particular embodiment thereof, given with reference to the accompanying illustrative and non-limiting drawings, in which:-

Figure I is a front view of one embodiment of an ostomy bag according to the invention; Figure 2 is a rear view (i.e. looking directly at the body-side of the bag) of the bag shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section of the bag shown in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a cross section through part of the non-body side wall of the ostomy bag shown in Figures 1-3, illustrating the filter and the intervening wall; and Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the filter showing its laminated construction.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 3 the illustrated ostomy bag is largely conventional and comprises front and rear panels 10, 12 of synthetic plastics material joined around their edge by any suitable plastics welding or joining technique to constitute an ostomy bag. In addition, to give comfort and a warm feel to the skin, a needled film 14 overlays the rear bag wall. A stornal orifice 16 (Figure 2) extends through the needled film and the rear bag wall and a pad 18 of medical grade adhesive, having thereon an polyethylene layer to render it more flexible and more readily secured by plastics welding to the bag, is included so that the ostomy bag can be stuck to the body of the wearer in conventional manner. The adhesive surface of this medical grade pad is exposed by pulling off a protective layer of release paper. Suitable medical grade adhesive compositions are pressure sensitive adhesive formulations that consist of a homogeneous blend of one or more water soluble or water swellable hydrocollaids dispersed in a viscous elastomeric substance such as polyisobutylene as disclosed by Chen in U.S. Patent 3,339,546. Optionally, the adhesive composition can also include one or more cohesive strengthening agents as described by Chen et al. in U.S. Patent 4,192,785 or one or more hydratable natural or synthetic polymers as described by Pawelchak et al. in U.S. Patent 4,393,080. Preferably, the adhesive pad includes a thin water insoluble polymeric film such as polyethylene.

As will be seen in Figures 1 and 2 a filter assembly 20 is located at an upper corner of the bag and the bag wall 10 has therein an S-shaped cut located substantially centrally of the filter assembly 20.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, although the filter assembly is seen as circular in these Figures, clearly this is not essential. It could be oval or rectangular or any other convenient shape. The illustrated filter assembly includes the following layers, and is attached to the iiisid.:surface of the bag front wall 10. The layers are listed in the order moving frorn the bag wall towards the interior of the bag, and comprise:

(a) a layer 200 of hot melt adhesive whereby the filter rnay be affixed to the wall of the bag; (b) a layer 202 of microfine non-woven material; Trade Name LUTROVIL 708 is particularly suitable; (c) a matrix layer 204 of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter disc 206, preferably 2 mm thick, of carbonA m pregnated crushed polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer 208 of hot melt adhesive and (f) a layer 210 of #ion- woven fabric.

Not connected to the filter, but connected to the bag wall by a closed loop weld entirely surrounding the filter, is an intervening wall 30. This is preferably made of EBA (ethylene butylacrylate) synthetic plastics material 50 microns thick, needled at about 160 holes per square inch, that is, about 248000 holes per square metre. One may employ from about 155000 to 465000 holes per square metre (100 to 300 holes per square inch) or, more preferably, frorn about 186000 to 310000 holes per square metre (120 to 200 holes per square inch). The holes are preferably substantially circular, though this is not absolutely essential. The maximum'dimension of each hole may be frorn 75 to 300 microns, preferably 100 to 250 microns, and more preferably 110 to 240 microns. The purpose of the intervening wall 30 is to perr-nit gas flow therethrough but substantially prevent any liquid or solid bag contents coming into contact with the filter.

The layers 202-210 specified above are integrated into a filter assembly by heat and pressure, following which the filter assembly is attached to tile interior surface of the bag wall by suitably activating, by heat the adhesive layer 202. One suitable material for the layer 202 is a polypropylene micro-fine non-woven film. A suitable film of this type is known under the Trade Name LUTROVIL 708. A suitable material for the layer 210 is a gas-permeable nonwoven synthetic plastics material known by a manufacturer's designation V115/463.

By adopting this design, a satisfactory filter securely attached within an ostomy bag can be provided, the overall thickness of the bag in the filter region being well under 2-:'1 mm. Moreover, both filter and bag are flexible and are unobtrusive even when worn under thin clothing. The bag and filter are also flexible and tend to Follow the contours of the wearer's body.

As an advantageous feature to enhance the overall -flexibility of the bag, the backing film on the medical grade adhesive is preferably embossed polyethylene. A film embossed with grooves is particularly preferred. A groove height and width of the order of around one-tenth of a millimetre may be employed.

Another advantageous feature of the illustrated design is that the medical grade adhesive may have thereon a sheet of paper carrying dimensioned circles as a guidance for the user when cutting a stornal orifice of the appropriate diameter in the medical grade adhesive pad. The adhesive is covered with a layer of release paper. The reldase paper is made to project slightly beyond the medical grade adhesive at regions located, for example, at the two ends of a horizontal diameter, such projection being for example about 2 or 3 mm. beyond the adhesive. These projections form an easily gripped tab to facillate the peeling off of the release sheet carrying the stornal diameter diagrams once the necessary hole has been cut by scissors by the wearer in the conventional manner.

Claims

In this Application, no claim is made to the filter as suCFclairned in U. K. Patent Application No. 88 05361. Subject to this disclaimer, we claim as follows:

1 1:

z:

CLAIMS 1. A beg or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body is made of two superposed sheets of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges and has a filter attached to an upper part of an interior surface of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, and an intervening wall is included to separate the filter region from the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said intervening wall being characterised by having a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square metre) and each hole having a maximum dimension of from 130 to 340 microns.

2. A bag or pouch according to claim 1, in which the filter includes the following components laminated together in the following order (a) a layer of hot-rTielt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to a wall of the bag; (b) a layer of microfine non-woven material; (c) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter member of carbon-impregnated polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; and (f) a layer of non-woven fabric.

3. A bag or pouch according to claim 2 in which the layer of non-woven fabric of the filter has an air permeability in the range 0.25-1.0 c.c./ crns 21sec at 10 mm W.P.G., and has a weight of 64 gm/M2 plus or minus 10%.

4. An bag or pouch according to any preceding clairn in which the bag or pouch wall has an S-shaped cut therein to allow exit of flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter.

5. A bag or pouch according to any preceding claim including a pad of medical grade adhesive by which the bag or pouch can be attached to 2 wearer, said adhesive having thereon a layer of release paper arranged to project slightly beyond the adhesive.

6. Any novel combination or sub-combination disclosed and/or illustrated herein.

Published 1989 atThe Patent OMoe, State House, 65171 Hip Holborn, London WClR 477. Further copies maybe obtained from The Patent Omce. Sales Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques lid, St Mary Cray, Kent, Con, 1/87