JP5225437B2 - Medical examination cassette - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical examination cassette used for preparation of a microscope specimen for medical examination. More specifically, a paraffin block can be formed automatically or semi-automatically without transferring a specimen from a cassette to a tray. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a cassette for medical examination which can be sliced with a microtome together with a cassette to produce a microscope specimen.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a conventional typical cassette of this type includes a cassette body 1 and a lid 2 made of a chemical-resistant synthetic resin. The cassette body 1 is a rectangular container having an open upper surface, and has a plurality of through holes 3 at the bottom, and a plate-shaped recording portion 4 that is inclined outwardly toward the bottom on the outer side of one side wall of the short side. Provided, and has locking grooves 5 and 6 on both sides. The lid 2 is a detachable plate-like body, has a large number of through holes 7 on the plate surface, and has locking pieces 8 and 9 on both sides.

  In order to prepare a microscope specimen using the above cassette, first, as shown in FIG. 7, the collected specimen 10 is accommodated in the cassette body 1 and the lid 2 is attached, and the name of the subject is attached to the recording unit 4. Etc. are recorded. The locking pieces 8 and 9 of the lid 2 engage with the locking grooves 5 and 6 of the cassette body 1 to fix the lid 2.

  Subsequently, the specimen 10 is washed with water through the through holes 3 and 7, the moisture of the specimen 10 is removed with alcohol, and affinity with liquid paraffin 12 described later is imparted with xylene.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 8, liquid (molten) paraffin 12 is placed in a tray 11 made of stainless steel or plastic, and the specimen 10 is taken out from the cassette body 1 and placed in the liquid paraffin 12 to place liquid paraffin on the specimen 10. Infiltrate. Subsequently, the cassette body 1 is placed on the step of the tray 11, and the liquid paraffin 12 is poured onto the specimen 10 until the bottom of the cassette body 1 is immersed in the liquid paraffin 12.

  After the liquid paraffin 12 is cooled and solidified, the tray 11 is removed to obtain a cassette block 13 (see FIG. 9) in which the paraffin 12 in which the specimen 10 is embedded adheres to the bottom of the cassette body 1.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the cassette block 13 is turned over and fixed on the base 16 of the adapter 15 mounted on the microtome 14 and fixed. The adapter 15 holds and fixes the cassette body 1 between the fixed arm 18 and the movable arm 19 provided on the base 16 by operating the lever 17. At that time, in order to prevent the cassette body 1 from floating due to the inclination of the recording unit 4, the locking claws 20 formed at the tips of the arms 18 and 19 engage with the corners of the bottom of the cassette body 1. Subsequently, the portion in which the specimen 10 of the paraffin 12 is embedded is sliced in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 9, and the sliced slice is stained and subjected to other predetermined processing to obtain a microscope specimen.

  In the above conventional method, as shown in FIG. 7, after the chemical treatment is performed with the specimen 10 accommodated in the cassette body 1, liquid paraffin 12 is placed in the tray 11 as shown in FIG. The troublesome work of placing the specimen 10 taken out of the cassette body 1 with tweezers on the liquid paraffin 12 and pouring until the bottom of the cassette body 1 is immersed in the liquid paraffin 12 is necessary. When the specimen 10 is transferred from the cassette body 1 onto the liquid paraffin 12 in the tray 11 with tweezers, there are many troubles that the specimen 1 is accidentally dropped and the valuable specimen is spoiled.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present applicant has proposed a cassette for medical examination in which at least a portion of the cassette body accommodating the specimen can be sliced (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-296220 (FIGS. 1, 6, 8, and 10)

  However, since the cassette described in the above document is made of a slicable material such as soft synthetic resin, elastomer, rubber, etc., when slicing with a microtome, it is fixed with an adapter. (FIG. 3), (b) Paraffin is injected into the widened portion and solidified (FIGS. 4 and 5), (c) The locking projection provided on the back surface of the lid is the same length as the widened portion. Further, it is necessary to extend the thickness to serve as a reinforcing body (FIG. 7) or (d) thicken the side wall of the widened portion to reinforce (FIG. 9).

  However, in the case of (a), it is necessary to prepare a separate reinforcing body, and the work of fitting the reinforcing body and fixing it to the adapter is troublesome and has poor workability. In the case of (b), a large amount of liquid (molten) paraffin is required, which is not only expensive, but also requires a long time for cooling and solidifying the liquid paraffin, and the workability is inevitably lowered. In the case of (c), the work of fitting the locking projections is necessary, and the workability is also lowered. In the case of (d), it is made of a soft material that can be sliced even if the side wall is made slightly thicker. Therefore, the reinforcement (buckling resistance) has its own limit, and it is difficult to obtain sufficient strength.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, has a simple structure, and does not require a reinforcing body or the like to be fitted to the adapter or use a large amount of liquid paraffin, so that workability is greatly improved. The purpose is to provide a cassette for medical examination.

The invention of claim 1 for solving the above-mentioned problem is a rectangular container that can contain a specimen, comprising a cassette body made of a chemical-resistant material and a lid, the cassette body having an open upper surface. In a medical examination cassette having a large number of through holes, a lid being detachable from the cassette body and provided with a large number of through holes, the cassette body is made of a soft material and is outside the side wall of the cassette body. to positions 2/3 from the opening of the side wall height Te, made of a hard material, characterized by being affixed to the adapter retention portion for engaging the engaging claws of the movable arm of the adapter of the microtome Contains a medical examination cassette.

  Claim 2 as a preferred embodiment is the cassette for medical examination according to claim 1, wherein the adapter fixing portion is provided on at least one pair of opposing side walls of the cassette body.

  Claim 3 as a preferred embodiment is the cassette for medical examination according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the soft material is made of a soft polymer material.

  Claim 4 as a preferred embodiment is the cassette for medical examination according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hard material is made of a hard polymer material.

  Claim 5 as a preferred embodiment is the cassette for medical examination according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adapter fixing part is attached by adhesion or welding.

  Since the cassette for medical examination of the present invention is provided with the adapter fixing portion made of a hard material at a position of 2/3 from the opening of the side wall height of the cassette body made of a soft material, a separate reinforcing material or the like is required. Instead, the adapter fixing part is fixed to the adapter, and the specimen containing part made of a soft material, which embeds the specimen with paraffin, can be sliced and used as a microscope specimen.

  It is preferable that a soft polymer material is used as the soft material and a hard polymer material is used as the hard material because it is inexpensive and easy to mold.

  In the medical examination cassette of the present invention, the adapter fixing portion is preferably attached by adhesion or welding.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the Example of the cassette of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the other example of the cassette of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the state which uses the cassette of FIG. It is the schematic which shows the state which produces a cassette block using the cassette after the water washing of FIG. 3 and a chemical | medical solution process. It is the schematic which shows the state which slices the cassette block obtained in FIG. 4 with a microtome. It is a partially notched top view which shows an example of the conventional cassette. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the state which embeds a test substance in paraffin using the conventional cassette. It is the schematic which shows the state which slices the paraffin block obtained in FIG. 8 with a microtome.

The cassette for medical examination of the present invention comprises a cassette main body made of a chemical resistant material and a lid, and the cassette main body is a rectangular container that can hold a specimen with an open upper surface, and has many through holes. has, lid, detachable in the cassette body, the medical exam cassette formed by providing a large number of through holes, the cassette body is made of a soft material, the sidewall height a outside of the side wall of the cassette body The adapter fixing part for engaging with the latching claw of the movable arm of the microtome adapter, which is made of a hard material, is pasted at a position 2/3 from the opening.

  The soft material used in the present invention is a material that can be sliced with a microtome, and is preferably a soft polymer material. Examples of such a polymer material include soft synthetic resins such as polyethylene, soft polyvinyl chloride, and soft ionomer. , Polystyrene, polyolefin, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyamide, polyurethane and other thermoplastic elastomers, butadiene (BR), styrene-butadiene (SBR), chloroprene (CR), butadiene-acrylonitrile (NBR), etc. Non-diene type synthetic rubbers such as diene, isobutylene-isoprene (IIR), ethylene-propylene (EPM, EPDM), chlorinated polyethylene, natural rubber, and the like. These may be used alone or in combination of two or more as required.

  The hard material used for this invention forms the adapter fixing | fixed part engaged with the latching claw of the movable arm of an adapter, For example, a polyacetal, a polycarbonate, a fluororesin etc. are mentioned.

  In the present invention, the soft material constitutes the specimen accommodating portion, and the hard material constitutes the adapter fixing portion. The adapter fixing part is affixed by bonding, welding, or the like after molding the cassette body using a soft material by a conventional molding method.

The adapter fixing portion may be provided on two pairs of opposing side walls of the cassette body, that is, on the four circumferences, or may be provided on any one pair of opposing side walls. From the viewpoint of strength, it is preferable to provide four rounds.
Further, it is preferable that the adapter fixing portion is provided up to about 2/3 from the opening at the side wall height of the cassette body. If it is provided at a position higher than that, the specimen storage section becomes small, which not only restricts the size of the specimen to be stored, but also makes the slice operation difficult.

  The cassette of the present invention can be partitioned into a plurality of small chambers by a partition wall. The number of chambers is formed by dividing the cassette body vertically and / or horizontally, and is preferably about 2 to 9 depending on the size and number of specimens. A partition wall may also be provided on the back surface of the lid so as to be in contact with the partition wall of the cassette body. Also, two partition walls are provided on the back surface of the lid, and the partition wall of the cassette body is sandwiched from both sides. May be formed.

  In order to prepare a microscope specimen using the cassette of the present invention, conventional methods may be used for water washing and chemical treatment, but when preparing a cassette block with liquid paraffin, a cassette containing a chemical-treated sample is used. Place the lid on the tray with the lid attached or with the lid removed, and pour liquid paraffin. In this case, it is preferable to pour the liquid paraffin so that it not only fills the specimen storage part but also covers a part of the adapter fixing part. By doing so, the cooled and solidified part of the liquid paraffin in the specimen storage part and the adapter fixing part are connected via the cooled and solidified paraffin of the part of the adapter fixing part, so that the strength is sufficient. Is more likely to occur.

  After the liquid paraffin has cooled and solidified, the tray is removed, and a cassette block in which the specimen is embedded in the specimen in the cassette body is obtained, and the cassette block is turned over (with the opening facing downward). Place on the adapter base, fix the adapter fixing part between the movable arm and the fixed arm, fix it, slice the whole specimen storage part, stain the resulting flakes, perform other predetermined processing and microscope Get a specimen.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example is given and this invention is demonstrated further in detail, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not restrict | limited only to this Example.

Example 1
As shown in FIG. 1, the cassette of the present embodiment comprises a cassette body 31 and a lid 32. The cassette body 31 is a rectangular container having an open top surface and is made of a soft material. 33, and an adapter fixing portion 36 made of a hard material is affixed to the circumference of the outer surface 4 of the side wall 34, leaving the specimen storage portion 35, and approximately half the height from the opening side. .

On the other hand, the lid 32 is a plate-like body having a large number of through holes 37, and has a locking projection 38 that fits into the opening of the cassette body 31 and fits in the back of the lid 32.
Although not shown, the recording unit is provided, for example, by subjecting the side wall 34 of the cassette body 31 or the surface of the adapter fixing unit 35 to a textured pattern or the like.

Example 2
As shown in FIG. 2, the cassette of the present embodiment is partitioned by two partition walls 39 in the cassette body 31 of the first embodiment, and each partition wall 39 is provided on the back surface of the lid 32. It is clamped by stop projections 40a and 40b and is divided into three small chambers 41.
Although three small chambers are shown in this embodiment, a partition wall can be provided so as to cross also in the short side direction. For example, when one partition wall is provided, six chambers are formed. When two partition walls are provided, nine small chambers are formed.

Reference Example A method for producing a microscope specimen using the cassette of Example 1 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the specimen 42 collected from the subject is accommodated in the cassette body 31, a lid 32 is attached, and the name of the subject is recorded in a recording unit (not shown). Water washing and chemical treatment are performed through the holes 33 and 37.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the chemical-treated cassette is placed on the tray 43, and liquid (molten) paraffin 44 is poured so that at least the specimen 42 is embedded in the paraffin 44. Preferably, it is poured to a height H (about several millimeters) that exceeds the specimen storage part 35 and reaches a part of the adapter fixing part 36 a little. By doing so, when the liquid paraffin is cooled and solidified, the H portion of the paraffin serves to firmly connect the paraffin of the specimen storage unit 35 and the adapter fixing unit 36, thereby providing sufficient strength. can do.
In this case, the lid 32 may remain attached or may be removed. When the lid 32 is removed, the trouble that the liquid paraffin blocks the through-hole 37 of the lid 32 is avoided.
After the liquid paraffin has cooled and solidified, the tray 43 is removed to obtain a cassette block 45 in which the specimen 42 is embedded in the cassette body 31 (FIG. 5).

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the cassette block 45 is turned over and fixed on the base 16 of the adapter 15 mounted on the microtome 14. The adapter 15 is fixed by sandwiching an adapter fixing portion 36 between the fixed arm 18 provided on the base 16 and the locking claws 20, 20 of the movable arm 19 by operating the lever 17, and fixing the cassette block 45. To do. Subsequently, the portion in which the specimen 42 of the paraffin 44 is embedded is sliced together with the specimen storage portion 35 in the direction of the arrow, and the obtained thin piece is stained and subjected to other predetermined processing to obtain a microscope specimen.
In this example, the state where the lid 32 is removed is shown. However, the cassette block 45 can be fixed on the base 16 of the adapter 15 with the lid 32 attached, if necessary. The lid 32 serves as a reinforcing body.

As described above, the cassette of the present invention does not need to be transferred from the cassette to the tray after the sample is washed with water and subjected to chemical treatment in the cassette, and can be placed on the tray as it is and embedded in paraffin. Furthermore, since the obtained cassette block can be sliced together with the cassette (specimen accommodating portion) by a microtome without the need for a separate reinforcing body, a microscope specimen can be created.
Further, as in the prior art, when transferring the sample from the cassette to the tray, it is possible to completely avoid the trouble of accidentally dropping the sample and ruining it.
Therefore, if the medical examination cassette of the present invention is used, the creation of the cassette block can be automated or semi-automated, and a great labor saving is possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cassette main body 2 Lid 3, 7 Through-hole 4 Recording part 5, 6 Locking groove 8, 9 Locking piece 10 Sample 11 Tray 12 (Liquid) Paraffin 13 Cassette block 14 Microtome 15 Adapter 16 Base 17 Lever 18 Fixed arm 19 Movable arm 20 Locking claw 31 Cassette body 32 Lid 33, 37 Through-hole 34 Side wall 35 Sample housing part 36 Adapter fixing part 38 Locking protrusion 39 Partition wall 40a, 40b Locking protrusion 41 Small chamber 42 Sample 43 Tray 44 (Liquid) paraffin 45 cassette block

Claims (5)

A cassette body made of a chemical-resistant material and a lid. The cassette body is a rectangular container that can hold a specimen with an open top surface, and has many through holes. The lid is attached to the cassette body. detachable, the medical exam cassette formed by providing a large number of through holes, the cassette body is made of soft material, of an outer side wall of said cassette body from the opening of the side wall height to 2/3 A cassette for medical examination, characterized in that an adapter fixing portion, which is made of a hard material and is engaged with a locking claw of a movable arm of a microtome adapter, is attached at a position.   The medical examination cassette according to claim 1, wherein the adapter fixing portion is provided on at least one pair of opposing side walls of the cassette body.   The cassette for medical examination according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the soft material is made of a soft polymer material.   The cassette for medical examination according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hard material is made of a hard polymer material.   The medical examination cassette according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adapter fixing portion is pasted by adhesion or welding.

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