JP2019017547A - Cell sampling brush - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a cell sampling brush capable of suppressing pain and bleeding by abrasion at the time of cell sampling and improving operability at the time of the cell sampling while appropriately sampling cells in a necessary and sufficient amount, which allows the sampled cells to be easily dispersed in preservation fluid and easily recovered.SOLUTION: A cell sampling brush includes: a brush part in which a plurality of filaments are fixed to a brush core; and a bar-like handle part connected to a rear end part of the brush core for operating the brush part. Each of the filaments has a pleat-shaped cross section capable of holding cells by capillary force.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a brush used when collecting cells. In particular, the present invention relates to a cell collection brush used for cervical cancer cytodiagnosis.

  In Japan, the prevalence of cervical cancer, including precancerous lesions, for women younger than 40 years has increased rapidly in recent years, surpassing the prevalence of breast cancer, and is currently ranked first. Cervical cancer requires treatment with a very large invasion in order to achieve remission even in the early stages of cancer, and it should be aimed at preserving fertility to occur frequently during sexual maturity. Because it is desired, pre-cancerous lesions and detection at an extremely early stage of cancer are extremely important.

Cervical cancer is said to develop due to persistent infection of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) in the cervix at the entrance of the uterus, and cervical cancer screening by cytology is used to detect precancerous lesions and cancer at very early stage Is effective.
However, in Japan, cervical cancer screening by cytology is recommended once every two years for women over the age of 20, but the rate of consultation is about 30%, compared to 80% in the United States. And very low.
The reason why the cervical cancer screening rate by cytodiagnosis is low is not only the mental aspect of embarrassment, but also the burden on the patient's body when pain or bleeding occurs when collecting cells .

Here, it is considered that one of the causes accompanied by pain and bleeding at the time of cell collection is the structure of the conventional cell collection brush.
In recent years, in cervical cancer cytodiagnosis, there are many methods that use a dedicated brush with a brush that combines a number of elongated rod-like structures instead of a cell collection method that uses a cotton swab, which tends to reduce the diagnostic accuracy due to a smearing error on the slide glass. It is used. This conventional brush is collected by attaching cells to the brush surface, but in order to obtain the necessary and sufficient cells, the brush part must be enlarged, and pain and bleeding may occur due to abrasion during cell collection. The problem of being easy to accompany was pointed out.

In addition, in order to collect the amount of cells necessary for the examination while reducing pain and bleeding due to scratching, long hair is entangled with multiple types of hair on the brush part or the length of the hair is fitted to the shape of the cell collection part. The invention has been devised such as providing a part and a short hair part (see Patent Document 1 and the like).
However, even in the case of the above-described devices, the amount of cells collected is not sufficient with the conventional brush composed of straight hair. For this reason, it is often necessary to perform a plurality of cell collection operations, and the burden on the body of the examinee is not reduced as a result.

JP-A-5-31115

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, suppresses pain and bleeding due to abrasion during cell collection, improves operability during cell collection, and can accurately collect a necessary and sufficient amount of cells. It is an object of the present invention to provide a brush for collecting cells that is easy to disperse cells in a preservation solution and is easy to collect.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the brush for collecting cells of the present invention comprises a brush portion in which a plurality of filaments are fixed to a brush core, and a substantially rod-like shape that is connected to the rear end portion of the brush core and operates the brush portion. The filament has a pleated cross section capable of holding cells by capillary force.

  The brush for cell collection according to the present invention may further include a brush core attaching / detaching portion that allows the brush core connected to the handle portion to be detached from the handle portion.

  The brush for collecting cells of the present invention may further include a protective tube that covers the brush portion after collecting cells and protects the collected cells. The protective tube is positioned at the outer periphery of the handle portion at the front end side before the cell collection and covers the tip end side of the handle portion, and after the cell collection, the handle portion is pulled in the rear end direction and the brush portion is moved backward. It is located on the outer periphery of the brush part and covers the brush part by sliding in the end direction.

  The brush for collecting cells of the present invention may further include a brush core cap at the tip of the brush core.

  In the brush for collecting cells of the present invention, a plurality of filaments having a pleated cross section may be fixed to the brush core cap portion.

Cytobrush of the present invention, it is preferable bending strength of the filament is ^{5kgf / mm 2 ~250,000kgf / mm 2} .

  According to the brush for collecting cells of the present invention, even if the amount of fibers of the brush and the abrasion at the time of collecting the cells are reduced, the cells are scraped at the corners of the pleat shape of the filament and are captured in the grooves, and between the pleats. Capillary action (capillary force) makes it possible to hold cells sufficiently. In addition, cells retained by capillary action can be efficiently recovered by immersing the brush part in a storage solution. For this reason, pain and bleeding due to abrasion during cell collection can be suppressed, operability during cell collection can be improved, and necessary and sufficient amount of cells can be accurately collected, and the collected cells can be easily dispersed in a preservation solution. It is possible to obtain a brush for collecting cells that is easy to do.

Moreover, according to the brush for cell collection provided with the brush core attaching / detaching portion of the present invention, the entire brush portion removed from the handle after being removed from the body after cell collection can be immersed in the preservation solution. For this reason, it is possible to obtain a cell collection brush capable of containing the collected cells immediately after collection in a preservation solution.
According to the brush for cell collection provided with the protective tube of the present invention, it is possible to protect the brush portion with the protective tube before extraction from the body after cell collection. For this reason, when the brush part is removed from the body, cells of other tissues further adhere to the brush part, or cells of the cervix held by the brush part adhere to other parts and are Cell collection brushes that prevent infection can be obtained.
According to the cell collection brush provided with the brush core cap portion of the present invention, the operation of inserting the cell collection brush can be made smoother. Further, according to the cell collection brush in which a plurality of filaments having a pleated cross section are fixed to the brush core cap portion, the cell collection brush can be inserted more smoothly and the cell collection efficiency of the cervix can be appropriately set. A cell collection brush that can be increased can be obtained.

The cross-sectional shape example of the filament of this invention is shown. An example of the filament of the present invention before cell retention (left) and after cell retention (right) is shown. (A) The photograph of an example of the hair of the conventional brush is shown. (B) A photograph (enlarged) of an example of conventional brush hair is shown. (A) The photograph of an example of the filament of the brush of this invention is shown. (B) The photograph (enlarged) of an example of the filament of the brush of this invention is shown. The example of the brush for cell collection of this invention is shown. An example of the cell collection brush of the present invention, (a) a state before cell collection, (b) a state in which the protective tube is covered with a brush part after cell collection, (c) a brush after removing the cell collection brush from the body, The core is removed from the hand-held part, and the brush part is immersed in the preservation solution. Another example of the cell collection brush of the present invention, (a) a state before cell collection, (b) a state in which the protective tube is covered with the brush part after cell collection, (c) a longitudinal section of (b) in which the filament is omitted The figure of (a) which abbreviate | omitted the surface figure and (d) the filament and the protection tube is shown. It is a figure explaining an example of the manufacturing method of the brush part of this invention.

The brush 1 for collecting cells of the present invention comprises at least a brush part 2 and a handle part 5 and is schematically shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the present cell collection brush 1 will be described in detail.
In the specification of the present application, the “front end portion” refers to the most distal portion (position) of the cell collection brush in each part on the insertion side in the body, and the “rear end” refers to the insertion side of the cell collection brush in each part in the body. The “front end portion” refers to the vicinity of the front end portion of each component, and the “rear end portion” refers to the vicinity of the rear end portion of each component. Further, the “front end side” refers to the body insertion side of the cell collection brush in each part, and the “rear end side” refers to the side opposite to the body insertion side of the cell collection brush in each part. Furthermore, the “front end direction” refers to the direction from the handle portion of the cell collection brush to the brush portion, and the “rear end direction” refers to the direction from the brush portion of the cell collection brush to the handle portion.

(Configuration of brush part 2)
The brush part 2 of the present invention comprises at least a plurality of filaments 3 and a brush core 4, and is inserted into a body tissue requiring cell collection by a handle part 5 connected to the rear end portion of the brush core 4, The cells are scraped out by operating the hand portion 5 such as advancing and retreating and rotating, and the scraped cells are removed from the body while being held in the brush portion 2. The retained cells are collected by immersing the brush part 2 in the storage solution 10 or the like.

The filament 3 constituting the bristles of the present invention is a fiber having a fine pleat shape. The pleat shape of the cross section of the filament 3 is not particularly limited as long as the pleat has a corner and a groove, and examples thereof include a snow crystal shape and a concave polygon. At the time of cell collection, the cells can be scraped by the pleated corners of the filament 3 and captured in the groove. Further, the cells can be sufficiently retained by the capillary phenomenon between the pleats and the capillary phenomenon of the bundled filaments 3.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a cross-sectional view of the filament 3 of the present invention. The outer diameter of the filament 3 is 0.1 mm to 3.0 mm, preferably 0.25 mm to 1.5 mm.
FIG. 2 shows the state of the filament 3 having a snow crystal cross section before and after cell retention. The collected cells are held between the folds, that is, in the groove portion of the filament 3.

The filament 3 of the present invention can be obtained, for example, by extruding and stretching a thermoplastic resin. Examples of thermoplastic resins include polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, elastomers such as PBT, PET, PVDF, polystyrene, vinyl chloride, urethane, and amide.
In addition, if the filament 3 is configured to increase the cell retention and reduce pain and bleeding when the cells are scraped, the length from the brush core 4, the outer diameter, the number (raised density), the cell There are no particular limitations on the width of the raised portion in the axial direction of the collecting brush, the bending strength, the type of thermoplastic resin, and the like. For example, the length from the brush core 4 is 1 mm to 3 cm, the outer diameter is 0.1 mm to 3.0 mm, and the width of the raised portion in the axial direction is 5 mm to 7.0 cm. Bending strength of the filaments 3 is desirably ^{5kgf / mm 2 ~250,000kgf / mm 2} . Furthermore, filaments having different lengths, filaments having different outer diameters, and two or more types of thermoplastic resin filaments may be combined. Moreover, you may combine the filament 3 whose cross section is a pleat shape, and the straight fiber which is not a pleat shape.

  In order to examine the difference in the amount of cells retained by capillary action, the amount of impregnation with water was measured for the filament 3 of the present invention having snow crystal-shaped pleats and the round cross-section hair having no pleat shape.

  Table 1 shows the outer diameter, the outer peripheral length, the outer peripheral surface area, and the impregnation amount of the filament 3 having a snow crystal-shaped pleated cross-section as an example of the present invention and the round cross-sectional hair as a comparative example. Indicates.

  In Table 1, the outer peripheral surface area is a value at a length of 30 mm. Further, the impregnation amount is a value when the end of a 30 mm long test piece is brought into contact with water and sucked up by a capillary force, and indicates an average of 10 measured values.

From Table 1, even if the filaments (hairs) have the same outer diameter, the surface area of the outer periphery of the snowflake-shaped pleated filaments 3 is about 1.75 times that of the round cross-sectioned hairs. It was found that water was retained by capillary force.
That is, it has been found that the filament 3 of the present invention improves the cell collection efficiency over the conventional hair without pleats because there are cells held between the pleats by capillary force in addition to the cells adhering to the surface. Conversely, a sufficient amount of cells can be collected even if the amount of fibers used is less than the conventional amount, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

FIG. 3A shows a photograph of an example of conventional brush hair. The cross-section of the hair is a semicircle with a width of 1.0 mm and a thickness of 0.4 mm.
FIG. 3B shows a photograph of an example of the filament 3 of the present invention. The filament 3 constituting the hair has a snow crystal-shaped cross section, and its outer diameter is 0.25 mm.

  In order to compare the collected weight (collecting function) of the conventional brush part shown in FIG. 3A and the brush part 2 of the present invention shown in FIG. 3B, a use test was performed in the oral cavity.

  Table 2 shows the collection of the brush part 2 (FIG. 3B) using the filament 3 having snow crystal-shaped folds, which is an example of the present invention, and the conventional commercially available brush part (FIG. 3A), which is a comparative example. The weight and feeling of use are shown.

  Although the size of the brush portion 2 of Example 2 was smaller than that of Comparative Example 2, it was found that the collected weight was about 2.6 times as large. At the same time, it was also found that Example 2 in which the brush portion was configured to be smaller had less scratching feeling than Comparative Example 2.

  If the brush core 4 which comprises the brush part 2 of this invention can fix the filament 3, there will be no restriction | limiting in a material, a shape, and a fixing method.

An example of the brush core 4 is a wire (see FIG. 4).
FIG. 7 shows an example of a method of fixing the filament 3 to the wire that becomes the brush core 4. First, a plurality of extruded filaments 3 are planarly placed between U-shaped wires serving as brush cores 4. Next, the plurality of filaments 3 are fixed while being spiraled by twisting together U-shaped wires. Thereafter, the filament 3 is cut at an arbitrary cutting line 11 to obtain a desired brush shape (see FIG. 3B).
The rear end portion of the brush core 4 only needs to be connected to the handle portion 5, and the length of the rear end portion of the brush core 4 is arbitrary. The length may be relatively short up to the front end portion of the handle portion 5 or may be relatively long up to the rear end portion of the handle portion 5. When the cells held on the filament 3 of the brush part 2 are immersed in a preservation solution 10 (an example is shown in FIG. 5) and sealed in a container, the brush part 2 is put in a container filled with the preservation solution 10. It is desirable that the length of the rear end portion of the brush core 4 is relatively short so that the

Another example of the brush core 4 is a rod-shaped member capable of raising the filament 3 (see FIG. 5).
The rod-shaped member that becomes the brush core 4 can arbitrarily raise the filament 3 on the surface of the rod-shaped member by, for example, spirally winding a plurality of extruded filaments 3 using a tape for medical equipment or the like. It is. The material of the rod-shaped member is not particularly limited, but is preferably a thermoplastic resin olefin, ABS, PC, POM, amide type, fluorine type such as PVDF, etc. from the viewpoint of ease of molding.
The rear end portion of the brush core 4 only needs to be connected to the handle portion 5, and the length of the rear end portion of the brush core 4 is arbitrary. The length may be relatively short up to the front end portion of the handle portion 5 or may be relatively long up to the rear end portion of the handle portion 5. When the cells held in the filament 3 of the brush part 2 are immersed in the preservation solution 10 and collected in a container, the brush part 4 is placed after the brush core 4 so that the brush part 2 can be put in a container filled with the preservation solution 10. The length of the end portion is preferably relatively short, and the length of the entire brush core 4 is preferably about 6 mm to 8 cm.

  As described above, the brush unit 2 including the filament 3 and the brush core 4 described above can efficiently remove cells retained by capillary action or the like by being immersed in the preservation solution 10 after being removed from the body after cell collection. It can be recovered.

(Configuration of the handle portion 5)
The front end portion of the handle portion 5 of the present invention is connected to the rear end portion of the brush core 4. The handle portion 5 is a substantially bar-shaped component that can be held by hand, and the brush portion 2 is operated to advance and retract and rotate by moving the handle portion 5 forward and backward.

  4 to 6 show an example of the handle portion 5. The material and shape of the handle portion 5 are those that do not easily damage the body during insertion and removal of the cell collection brush 1, and that ensure connection with the rear end portion of the brush core 4. There is no particular limitation as long as the cells can be easily collected in 2. Examples of the material for the handle portion 5 include a wire covered with a sheath, a thermoplastic resin, and the like. The length of the handle portion 5 can reach the cell collection portion and has good operability, for example, about 10 cm to 25 cm, and the outer diameter is adjusted to, for example, about 3 mm to 10 mm, which is easy to operate with strength that does not cause damage. . The cross section of the handle portion 5 may be a polygon such as a circle or a quadrilateral, and the outer peripheral surface of the handle portion 5 is roughened or fold-shaped cuts are made in the axial direction so that the finger slides in the cell collection operation. It may be difficult.

(Configuration of brush core attaching / detaching portion 6)
The brush 1 for collecting cells of the present invention can further include a brush core attaching / detaching portion 6. The brush core attaching / detaching portion 6 is a component (part) from which the brush core 4 connected to the handle portion 5 can be detached from the handle portion 5.
The brush core 4 removed by the brush core attaching / detaching portion 6 can enclose the entire brush core 4 in a container containing the storage solution 10, improving the collection efficiency of the collected cells, and collecting the collected cells. Contamination can be reduced.

  FIGS. 4C, 5, and 6 show an example of the brush core attaching / detaching portion 6. The brush core 4 is attached and detached by, for example, a method of releasing the engagement by pressing and bending a plastic connecting portion engaged with the brush core 4 with a finger, and a protection tube 7 described later on the rear end portion of the brush core 4. For example, a method of pulling out the handle portion 5 by fixing with a member such as a method of pulling out the handle portion 5 while rotating it may be used.

  In addition, the brush core attaching / detaching portion 6 illustrated in FIG. 6, which has a substantially cylindrical shape and has an unevenness on the outer periphery and a plurality of cuts in the axial direction, attaches and detaches the brush core due to the unevenness on the outer periphery when the handle 5 is pulled out The tip of the portion 6 is slightly bent, and the brush core 4 that has been connected is released by slightly increasing the diameter of the brush core attaching / detaching portion 6.

  As described above, the brush core attaching / detaching portion 6 is securely connected to the brush core 4 until the cell collection brush 1 is removed from the body after the cells are collected, and immediately after being removed from the body, the entire brush portion 2 is quickly May be provided with a shape and an attachment / detachment mechanism that immerses the liquid in the storage solution 10. In order to improve the hygiene of a doctor or the like who collects cells with the cell collection brush 1 and to improve the collection rate of the collected cells, it is more desirable to have a shape that prevents the fingers from touching the cells collected during attachment and detachment mechanisms.

(Configuration of protective tube 7)
The cell collection brush 1 of the present invention can further include a protective tube 7 that covers the brush portion 2 after collecting the cells and protects the collected cells. The protective tube is positioned on the outer periphery of the front end side of the handle portion 5 before collecting the cells and covers the front end side of the handle portion 5. It is a component that is located on the outer periphery of the brush part 2 and covers the brush part 2 by sliding in the direction.
Since the protection tube 7 can protect the brush part 2 after cell collection from being exposed, when the brush part 2 is removed from the body, the brush part 2 further adheres cells of other tissues. In addition, it prevents the cervical cells held by the brush part 2 from adhering to other sites and causing secondary infection.

  The material and shape of the protective tube 7 are not particularly limited as long as they do not easily damage the body during insertion and removal of the cell collection brush 1 and can easily protect the brush portion 2 holding the cells. The outer diameter of the protective tube 7 is designed in the range of 3 mm to 3 cm, for example. Examples of the material of the protective tube 7 include thermoplastic resin olefins that can be easily molded, ABS, PC, POM, amides, fluorines such as PVDF, and the like.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the protective tube 7. (A) shows the position of the protective tube 7 while the cell collection brush 1 is inserted into the body and the cells of the cervix are collected, and (b) shows the cell collection brush 1 outside the body after cell collection. Before pulling out, the handle part 5 is pulled, the brush part 2 is slid in the rear end direction, and the position of the protective tube 7 when the brush part 2 is covered with the protective tube 7 is shown, (c) After the cell collection brush 1 is removed from the body, the brush part 2 protected by the protective tube 7 is removed from the handle part 5 using the brush core attaching / detaching part 6, and the brush part is stored in the storage solution 10 contained in the container. The state in which 2 is immersed is shown.

  FIG. 6 shows another example of the protective tube 7. (A) shows the position of the protective tube 7 while the cell collection brush 1 is inserted into the body and the cells of the cervix are collected, and (b) shows the cell collection brush 1 outside the body after cell collection. The position of the protective tube 7 when the handle portion 5 is pulled to slide the brush portion 2 in the rear end direction and the brush portion 2 is covered with the protective tube 7 is shown.

(Configuration of brush core cap 8)
The cell collection brush 1 of the present invention can further include a brush core cap portion 8 at the tip of the brush core 4.

  For example, when a wire is used as the brush core 4, the brush 1 for collecting cells can be smoothly inserted into the body by providing the brush core cap portion 8 made of a rounded material having good slippage. In this case, the material and shape of the brush core cap portion 8 are not particularly limited as long as the body is not easily damaged when the cell collection brush 1 is inserted and removed. Examples of the material of the brush core cap portion 8 include thermoplastic resin olefin, ABS, PC, POM, amide, and PVDF that are easy to mold.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4C, the filament 9 can be further fixed to the brush core cap portion 8. The cross section of the filament 9 fixed to the brush core cap part 8 has a pleat shape (refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 etc.) like the filament 3 of the brush part 2 and is formed by extruding and stretching a thermoplastic resin. can get. The filament 9 can be raised longer than the filament 3 so that cells can be collected along the shape of the cervix.

As described above, in the cell collection brush including the brush portion and the handle portion, the cross section of the filament of the brush portion is formed into a pleat shape capable of holding the cells by capillary force, so that the amount of brush fibers and the cell collection time Even if this rubbing is reduced, the cells can be sufficiently retained. In addition, cells retained by capillary action or the like can be efficiently recovered by immersing the brush portion in a storage solution. For this reason, pain and bleeding due to abrasion during cell collection can be suppressed, operability during cell collection can be improved, and necessary and sufficient amount of cells can be accurately collected, and the collected cells can be easily dispersed in a preservation solution. It is possible to obtain a brush for collecting cells that is easy to do.
According to the present invention, pain and bleeding at the time of cell collection in cervical cancer cytology can be suppressed, the burden on the body of the examinee is reduced, and the cell collection operation is facilitated. The rate can be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Brush for cell collection 2 Brush part 3 Filament 4 Brush core 5 Handle part 6 Brush core attaching / detaching part 7 Protection tube 8 Brush core cap part 9 Filament fixed to brush core cap part 10 Preservation liquid 11 Example of filament cutting line

Claims (6)

A brush portion in which a plurality of filaments are fixed to the brush core;
A substantially rod-shaped handle portion connected to a rear end portion of the brush core and operating the brush portion;
With
A brush for cell collection, wherein the filament has a pleated cross section capable of holding cells by capillary force.   The brush for cell collection according to claim 1, further comprising a brush core attaching / detaching portion that is detachable from the handle portion, the brush core connected to the handle portion. Covering the brush part after cell collection, further comprising a protective tube to protect the collected cells,
The protective tube is positioned at the outer periphery of the handle portion at the front end side before the cell collection and covers the tip end side of the handle portion, and after the cell collection, the handle portion is pulled in the rear end direction and the brush portion is The brush for cell collection according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the brush is disposed on an outer periphery of the brush portion and covers the brush portion by sliding in an end direction.   The brush for cell collection according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a brush core cap at the tip of the brush core.   The brush for cell collection according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of pleated filaments are fixed to the brush core cap portion. Bending strength of the filament is ^{5kgf / mm 2 ~250,000kgf / mm 2} , cytobrush of claim 1.

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