JP3102495U - Breast cancer screening tool - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to improve the sensitivity of palpation when a subject, who is a subject, moves smoothly in daily life with little friction, and to detect physical abnormalities and changes in the shape and hardness of the subject, such as the chest. In the case of self-examination using the action of sensing sharply, the left and right hands are used to obtain a hard-to-break palpation aid.
[Solution]
At the end of the flat bag, attach a finger cover enough to cover only the aligned fingers, and at the end opposite to the end, attach a belt that softly fixes the wrist. The belt at the open end of the finger cover and the belt are not parallel to each other and have a slight inclination, so that they are hardly broken without any unnecessary force.
[Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to an assisting device for a subject to self-examine breast cancer, and more particularly to an easy-to-use breast cancer detecting device for palpating a left portion or a right portion of a subject's body with a right hand or a left hand, respectively.

Breast cancer is one of the few cancers you can find yourself. Breast cancer is detected by a specialist's inspection, palpation, echo, radiography (mammography), and cytology, but it is important for the subject, especially an adult woman, to perform a self-examination before a doctor is involved. There is. If you can detect the symptoms early on your own, even if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, the survival rate will be high and you will often be able to save without removing the entire breast. Of course, it is important to go to a specialized clinic or mass screening, but in those environments, it tends to be a short screening. Therefore, when the subject himself / herself palpates the chest in a daily home or the like, and discovers an abnormality on the skin of the body or a lump under the skin by palpation, it leads to early detection of breast cancer.

Although only 20% of breast masses are life-threatening, it is not easy to distinguish the clinical signs of breast cancer from benign breast disease. In fact, it must be noted that breast cancer, while providing good prospects for diagnosis and treatment, is also a leading cause of death in women.

Fortunately, the increasing number of women learning breast self-examination has improved the environment in which tumors can be found and diagnosed early. In fact, about 90% of patients who are diagnosed with breast cancer by doctors in specialized hospitals are those who have found lump in advance and consulted. Breast cancer is said to have a cure rate approaching 100% if it can be detected early.

Women over the age of 20 should have a self-examination once a month for lump. After the onset of menstruation with little swelling of the mammary gland, it is effective to perform it when body temperature is remarkable from 5 to 10 days from the end of menstruation (about the 7th day, around the ovulation day). The examiner must perform a self-examination at an appropriate time for the examination, paying attention to the body temperature. However, despite his own body, he is unfamiliar and often has the impression that it takes time to perform a medical checkup himself, and often overlooks it. Of course, even if you see a specialist, it is dangerous if you are late.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a pad suitable for self-palpation such as a lump in the chest. This pad is a bag, which contains a lubricating liquid and air inside, and is an excellent tool for sharpening the sensation of the fingertip at the time of palpation and making it easy to find a lump or the like in the affected area.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-11872

The pad described in Patent Literature 1 is for touching the chest and other skin of a subject to palpate an abnormality such as a lump, and has a substantially circular upper surface and a cross section as shown in FIG. It has a structure in which a lubricating liquid (13) and air (14) are mixed in a flat circular bag having a sealed flexible outer skin (10). An object of the present invention is to improve the form of the breast cancer palpation pad by using the principle of such a palpation pad so that it can be easily used by holding it with left and right hands.

The palpation pad is a flat, nearly circular bag that looks similar or larger than the palm of a human hand. The skin of the bag is made of a latex of synthetic or natural rubber that is suitably strong, flexible, and impermeable to water and gas. The latex of the synthetic rubber is specifically a polymer such as polychloroprene, butadiene styrene copolymer, butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer. Some latexes of natural rubber are collected and processed from Hevea brasiliensis trees. Lubricant (13) and air (14) are sealed and sealed in such a bag. The lubricating liquid is preferably, but not limited to, dimethyl silicon, glycerin, polyethylene glycol, or propylene glycol, which are materials that do not chemically react with the outer skin. The air is about twice as much as the lubricating liquid. The periphery of the bag, especially the lower end corresponding to the wrist, should be fitted with other parts, such as a device for measuring body temperature, a belt for putting on the wrist during palpation, a label displaying a cautionary message during palpation, or a suitable place for underwear or a bathroom A single non-sack plate is formed or attached to attach a stop or the like to the wall. This plate-shaped part is useful for distinguishing the vertical direction of the palpation aid and for carrying the pad and making it easier to handle.

The examinee uses the palpation pad to palpate a site where a lump of the body is likely to be generated, for example, an armpit or a periphery of the center of the bust. When palpating the rubber pad and lubricating liquid with the fingertip from the top of the pad of the palpating pad, the upper and lower outer pads move smoothly with little friction, significantly improving the sensitivity of palpation, and the shape and hardness of the part to be inspected, such as the chest. The effect of sharply sensing physical abnormalities and changes in the sword can be effectively exerted.

This raises some usage problems. First, palpation pads are of the same or larger size as the palm of the hand. If small, the finger may come off the pad during palpation. On the other hand, a very large one is inconvenient to handle. A glove-like cover may be formed on the front or back of the outer skin so that the hand can be put in place (FIG. 3), but this adds another second problem. That is, the large cover hinders free movement of the fingertip during palpation. Another problem is that this kind of pad can be used for palpation by replacing the front and back of a flat bag. In this case, use the right hand from the front of the bag for the left part of the body, and use the left hand from the back of the bag for the right part of the body. However, with a structure like a glove, both sides cannot be used effectively. However, it is inconvenient, cumbersome, and wasteful to prepare a pair of the right hand and the left hand.

Then, instead of a structure like a glove, it was considered to attach a cover that is not so large that the finger is hidden at the tip. In addition, it was considered that a wrist belt that softly fixes the outer skin of the palpation pad to the extent that the wrist does not come off may be used in combination with a portion near the lower end of the outer skin of the bag and a portion corresponding to the wrist. The subject should palpate the small finger cover and belt with his right hand, flipping the pad from front to back, if necessary, flipping the pad over, and using his left hand, this time on the other side of the flat bag Touch the skin and palpate.

If the palm is completely covered like a glove, it cannot be turned over and can only be palpated on one side of a flat bag. This creates another inconvenience. The examinee palpates by holding the pad with his left and right hands, but a flat bag takes into account the position of the thumb, and the area of that part is enlarged, rounded, asymmetric. Because it is a shape, if the shape is made for the right hand, it is not suitable for use with the left hand. For that purpose, it is convenient to use the same front and back of the bag when holding the left and right hands. This solves the first to third problems, but creates another, fourth problem. That is, the joint between the bag and the cover or the like is easily damaged while the finger cover or the belt is repeatedly turned over.

Like the bags themselves, the finger covers and belts must be made of soft materials, such as cloth or rubber, so that they can be used in contact with the skin. For this reason, the strength is limited, and force and strain are applied each time the material is reversed, and the material such as a joint portion may be fatigued, torn, and damaged. The epithelium of the bag may even be damaged. It is recommended that this kind of pad be used for about two years. The bag and its contents do not deteriorate during use, but if a part of the bag is damaged or accessory parts such as finger covers are damaged, it is difficult for the subject to repair the bag, which is difficult to use. Had become a bottleneck.

In the present invention, the problems described above, including the fourth problem, have been solved by making the line of the open end of the finger cover and the belt not parallel to each other but slightly inclined.

The reason that the line at the lower end of the finger cover and the belt are slightly inclined to each other to reduce the damage of the attached parts is that, for example, the user holds the belt with the right hand and the end of the finger cover with the left hand, respectively. Grip and try to turn over at once, but the direction in which the left and right hands apply force is not in a straight line, but has some angle, so I attached the finger cover and the belt at an angle to match that angle It is thought that the power of the user trying to turn over is reasonably applied. In addition, when the cover is turned over, it is conceivable that the force directly acting only on the open end portion of the cover only in the vertical direction is somewhat dispersed in the lateral direction.

According to the present invention, the lubricating fluid inside the bag of the palpation aid makes the feel of the fingertips sharp and the lump of the chest very easy to understand by using the same structure on the front and back, and it can be used for both front and back be able to. That is, when one breast cancer screening tool is used by turning it upside down in a flat shape, it is easy to use and hard to break.

The best mode for carrying out the breast cancer screening device of the present invention is as follows. That is:
A breast cancer palpation aid having a structure in which lubricating liquid and air are mixed inside a sealed, flexible, flat bag for touching the skin of the chest of the subject to palpate the abnormality,
The flat bag has a size and shape enough to cover one palm with a margin, and is made of the same material so that the skin can be touched and touched by both the front and back of the flat bag. Composed of
Attach a finger cover that covers only the aligned fingers at the tip of the flat bag, and attach a belt that softly fixes the wrist to the end opposite the tip,
Both the finger cover and the belt can be optionally inverted on the front side or the back side of the flat bag,
A breast cancer screening tool, wherein the line at the open end of the finger cover and the belt are not parallel to each other but have a slight inclination.

The angle between the line at the open end of the finger cover and the belt depends on the shape of the examination aid, but is, for example, 5 degrees or less, and a slight effect is more effective, and usually 20 degrees or less is sufficient.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a state where the palpator of the same first embodiment is turned upside down. When the palpation part (1) is viewed from above the front surface, it is an ellipse or a rounded polygon that is larger than the palm of one hand, and because the thumb enters, the ellipse is centered on the vertical and horizontal diameters. As an asymmetric shape. The outer skin (10) of the bag is made of a homogeneous material so that it can be palpated with either a flat front side (10A) or a flat back side (10B). Attach a finger cover (11) that is not too large, so that the palm does not come off the palpation aid and the aligned fingers are hidden. At the same time, attach the belt (12) that fixes the wrist softly near the lower end of the outer skin of the bag. Since the belt (12) and the finger cover (11) have softness and elasticity, they can be used with either the right or left hand by pulling them upside down as shown by the arrow in FIG. It is a feature of the present invention that when turning over, the line at the open end of the finger cover and the belt are not parallel to each other and are inclined by about 5 degrees so that excessive force or distortion is less likely to be applied.

The part to which the belt (12) is attached is a plate-like part protruding from the bag. The edge of the epithelial material may be machined like a plate, or a plate made of another material may be attached. In addition, the inside of the bag (10A, 10B) of the breast cancer palpation tool of the present invention has no difference in cross section as shown in FIG. 4, and contains a lubricating liquid (13) and air (14). It has a flexible and flat bag structure.

The examination using the palpation aid in the present invention is performed in the following procedure. Considering prevention, check up about once a month, avoid premenstrual breasts, 5-10 days after the onset of menstruation and after menstruation (about 7 days, around the day of ovulation), changes in body temperature It is done at the time of big. By the action of the lubricating liquid, the tactile sensation is remarkably amplified as compared with directly touching the affected part with a finger. With the help of the action, the subject can easily detect even a slight abnormality such as a lump in his chest.

It is effective to use both visual inspection and palpation while reflecting the breast on a mirror. While watching closely for red swelling, dents, pulling, etc., align all four fingers and over the outer skin of the palpation aid, from the inside of the breast (the center of the body) to the outside. Palpate to write the “no” character. From the outside to the inside of the breast, from the center to the periphery of the breast, and around the lymph glands under the armpit, pat the skin in a spiral to check for lump. Raise your arms toward the mirror and note the position of both breasts and any unnatural depressions. The right chest is the left hand, and the left chest is the right hand. Lightly, slowly and carefully stroke the surface of the breast with the pad of your finger over the palpation aid. Check twice with your arms lowered and your arms raised.

The palpation aid containing the lubricating liquid has the effect of significantly increasing the tactile sensation. If there is a lump under the skin, a slightly raised or stiff feel is transmitted to the fingertips. The lump of breast cancer is hard, the surface is uneven, and usually painless to touch. If you feel a twitch, touch it carefully. If you put too much force on your fingers, you can easily mistake the mammary glands and other lumps, so that you can try to lightly slide the surface.

The open end of the finger cover need not be straight. By providing a smooth curvature, the line at the lower end of the finger cover and the belt may be not parallel to each other but have a slight inclination. In addition, the plate-like part (2) with the belt (12) attached is a thermometer, calendar clock, means for recording the palpation history, other precautionary messages, clasps to the wall, etc. Various accessories may be attached.

According to the present invention, the function of the lubricating liquid inside the bag of the palpation aid to sharpen the feel of the fingertip and to make the lump in the chest very easy to understand can be utilized in both front and back use. In other words, when the breast cancer screening tool was turned upside down and used as a whole in a flat shape, it was easy to use and hard to break.

According to the present invention, a woman can easily perform a medical examination by himself, which is useful for early detection of breast cancer. When performing self-palpation, an easy-to-use palpation aid that sharpens the feel of the fingertip can be used at home or the like, so that abnormalities such as lumps in the chest can be found quickly. The present invention utilizes the flat shape of the palpation aid and the function to make the feel of the fingertip particularly sharp, and also effectively combines hard-to-break parts. Great availability.

Palpation aid of the first embodiment of the present invention Figure showing the palpation aid of Example 1 turned over and used Sectional view of bag part of palpation aid Figure of the conventional example with a large finger cover attached Reference side view with the finger cover and belt turned over and turned over

Explanation of reference numerals

1 Palpation aid 2 Attached parts (such as a thermometer)
10A Front side skin 10B Back side skin 11 Finger cover 12 Belt (or mounting position)
13 Lubricant 14 Air

Claims (1)

A breast cancer palpation aid having a structure in which lubricating liquid and air are mixed inside a sealed, flexible, flat bag for touching the skin of the chest of the subject to palpate the abnormality,
The flat bag has a size and shape enough to cover one palm with a margin, and is made of the same material so that the skin can be touched and touched by both the front and back of the flat bag. Composed of
Attach a finger cover that covers only the aligned fingers at the tip of the flat bag, and attach a belt that softly fixes the wrist to the end opposite the tip,
Both the finger cover and the belt can be optionally inverted on the front side or the back side of the flat bag,
A breast cancer screening tool characterized in that the line at the open end of the finger cover and the belt are not parallel to each other but have a slight inclination.

Images