JPH0875725A - Transportable excrement sampling container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To increase the number of drops of a filtrate obtained in inspection while reducing the dispersion by improving filtration efficiency of a filter of an excrement sampling container. CONSTITUTION: The transportable excrement sampling container is provided with an inflow section 7c which has an upper open end 7A to let a ring-shaped stopper member 7 communicate with the inside of a cylindrical container body 1 and an lower open end 7B contacting a filtering surface of a filter 6. The sectional area in the direction of the diameter of the cylinder of the inflow section 7C is increased gradually to the lower open end 7B from the upper open end 7A to form a depositing section 8, at which a solid matter in a suspension is separated and settled at least partially, between an outer circumferential wall of the ring-shaped stopper member 10 and an inner circumferential wall of the cylindrical container body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stool collection container, and more particularly to a stool collection container that can be sent and / or returned by means such as a mail envelope.

[0002]

Similar to urine, feces are suitable as a non-invasive test sample and are widely used as a sample in some tests.

Among the above-mentioned tests, the detection of occult blood in feces is known as a screening method for gastrointestinal diseases, especially gastrointestinal bleeding, and is very important for diagnosis of gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeding diseases such as cancer. is there.

As a method for detecting occult blood in feces, a recently reported detection method based on the immunological reaction principle (see, for example, JP-A-59-125064) is a so-called test paper using a conventional guaiac reagent. It is superior in specificity and sensitivity to the detection method according to 1. and has attracted attention as a new screening method for the above-mentioned diseases.

By the way, in order to carry out the method for detecting occult blood in feces based on the immunological reaction principle, feces are quantitatively sampled to some extent in advance, and the feces are suspended in an appropriate liquid to give a predetermined feces. It is necessary to prepare a suspension.

[0006] Since the immunological detection reagent is preset so as to obtain sensitivity according to the expected amount of liquid, that is, the amount of feces, if the amount of feces to be tested is too small, the sensitivity is lowered. On the contrary, if the amount of feces to be inspected is too large, it is inconvenient for transportation, for example, by mail, and causes a bad odor. Furthermore, a problem arises when disposing of an extra sample (test feces) after the test is completed.

[0007] Various stool collection containers have been conventionally proposed for the purpose of solving such problems (for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-17652 and Japanese Patent Application No. 4-355816).
etc). For example, in the transportation stool collection container described in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-355816, as shown in FIG.
The upper end of the cylindrical container body 11 containing the container is sealed with a lid body 12, and the lid body 12 has a stool collection rod 14 to be inserted into the container body 11.
Is attached. A concentric partition wall 19 is provided inside the container body 11 integrally therewith, and a hole portion for inserting the stool collection rod 14 in a rubbing state is provided in the center portion thereof. Lid 1
2 is pushed into the container body 11 by the screwing portion 13, and the tip of the stool collecting rod 14 is provided with a spiral groove 14A.

A drip portion 15 is fitted to the lower end of the container body 11, and a filter portion 16 is provided above the drip portion 15. A thin portion 15A that is easily perforated is formed below the drip portion 15. The container body 1
The stopper ring 1 is provided on the upper portion of the filter portion 16 of FIG.
7 is fixed, and the filter portion 16 is fixed between the stopper ring 17 and the drip portion 15.

In the stool collection container shown in FIG. 4, the stool collection rod 1
4 is pierced into the stool which is the subject, and a certain amount of stool is collected at the tip, and then the stool collection rod 14 is inserted through the hole of the separation wall 19 into the container body 11. At this time, excess feces can be scraped off by the peripheral surface of the separation wall 19, and as a result, a certain amount of fecal sample can be easily collected in the spiral groove 14A and suspended in the liquid S to be a test sample. Can be

Since the outer diameter of the container body 11 is about 9 mm, the stool collection container can be sent and / or returned by a means such as a fixed size mail envelope.
However, it has been found that the stool collection container having such a small shape and volume causes various problems in actual handling.

For example, when a suspension from a stool sample collected in a stool collection container is subjected to analysis by an automatic analysis device, a predetermined amount from each container is used to quantitatively react with the detection reagent as described above. It is necessary to stabilize the reaction sensitivity so that the filtrate can be obtained with the dropping amount and that the dropping amount does not vary.

However, since the filtration area of the filter used for a small diameter fecal sampling container is extremely small, undigested solid matter such as feces present in the suspension deposits on the filtration surface, so that the filtration of the filter is performed. Efficiency tends to decrease. This precipitation depends on the size and shape of the solid matter, and especially in the case of so-called "difficult to permeate" which is difficult to filter,
Since only 2 drops of the filtrate can be obtained, the filtrate obtained between the collection containers varies widely and it is difficult to obtain stable test sensitivity.

Deposition of solids in the sample on the filtration surface occurs especially when the stool collection container collected in a laboratory is stored for a long time prior to analysis and then used for the test as it is. Cheap.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a small stool collection container which can be easily handled in a sealed state of the stool suspension and which can be mailed, and the stool sample contained in the container body is suspended. When the turbid liquid is filtered with a filter and dropped, the filtration efficiency does not decrease due to the deposition of solids on the filtration surface regardless of the properties of the stool sample, and a fixed amount of filtrate is always obtained, thus providing stable analytical sensitivity. The purpose is to provide a transportable stool collection container.

[0015]

The above-mentioned problems to be solved by the present invention are a cylindrical container body for containing a liquid for suspending feces therein, and a lid for sealing the upper end of the container body. Body, a stool collecting rod which is hung on the lower surface of the lid and inserted into the container body, and a separation wall which is provided inside the container body and removes excess feces when the stool collecting rod is inserted. A filter provided at the lower end of the container body for filtering a suspension of feces, a drip unit provided below the filter for dropping the filtrate, and above the filter in the container body. In a transportation fecal sampling container having a ring-shaped stopper member which is provided in contact with a filtering surface and clamps and fixes the filter between the dropping portion, the ring-shaped stopper member is provided inside the tubular container body. The upper open end communicating with the above The filter has an inflow portion having a lower opening end in contact with the filtering surface of the filter, the cross-sectional area of the inflow portion in the cylinder radial direction is gradually increased from the upper opening end to the lower opening end, and the ring. Between the outer peripheral wall of the stopper member and the inner peripheral wall of the cylindrical container body, there is formed a depositing portion that at least partially separates and precipitates the solid matter in the suspension. Achieved by transport stool collection container.

[0016]

In the container for transporting and collecting feces of the present invention, feces are collected at the lower end of the stool collecting rod which is integral with the lid, and the tip is inserted toward the inside of the container body. Feces on the tip peripheral surface of the stool were scraped off when passing through the separation wall, and a predetermined amount of stool remaining in the spiral groove was suspended in the liquid in the sealed container body and the test sample. Become. As described above, the transportation and collection container can send the suspension in a sealed state by a mail envelope or the like. At the time of inspection, the thin portion of the dropping portion is punctured to drop the suspension through the filter to the outside.

In the present invention, the feces contained in the groove of the fecal sampling rod are dissolved and dispersed in the suspension medium in the container body. In this case, the solid matter in the feces is the central hole of the ring-shaped stopper member. At the respective inflow portions formed in the section, the outer peripheral wall of the stopper member, and the inner peripheral wall of the container body, they are dispersed and suspended while settling in the liquid.

In the present invention, the opening cross-sectional area of the inflow portion of the stopper member in the cylinder radial direction is gradually increased from the upper opening end to the lower opening end side in contact with the filtering surface (thus, the cross-sectional area of the depositing portion in the cylinder radial direction is lowered. (More than above), the amount of dispersed solids settling in the inflow is relatively reduced. Also, when the dispersed solid matter of the suspension is introduced into the inflow part of the stopper member and left to stand for a long time, the solid matter deposited on the filtration surface will be deposited over a wide range due to this diameter expansion ratio. The thickness (height) deposited on the filtration surface of the solid matter of is further reduced.

When the container body is squeezed at the time of inspecting feces in such a state, the internal suspension liquid is dripped from the inflow portion of the stopper member through the filter and the dropping portion.

When the suspension of the container body above the inflow part and the upper part of the depositing part is introduced into the inflow part by the subsequent squeezing of the container body, the suspension of these parts when the container body is allowed to stand. Since some solid matter has already been separated from the liquid, the filtration efficiency is not lowered during filtration by the filter.

Therefore, in the stool collection container of the present invention, the deposition of solids on the filtration surface is small, so that the filtration efficiency at the time of dropping the suspension during the analysis of the stool collection sample is improved, and the stool collection drops depending on the properties of the sample. An analytical test with stable sensitivity is possible without causing a large variation in the amount.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as described above, the cross-sectional area of the upper opening end of the inflow portion of the ring-shaped stopper member in the radial direction of the cylinder is 1 / of the cross-sectional area of the lower opening end.
The diameter is reduced to 3 or less, and a radial inflow hole that connects the inflow portion and the deposition portion is formed in the annular peripheral wall.

In this embodiment, even if a large solid substance blocks the upper end opening of the inflow section before the container body is completely squeezed, the suspension can be continuously flowed into the inflow section from the inflow hole. it can. Further, in such an embodiment, when the solid matter is dispersed in the liquid medium, a part of the solid matter enters the inflow portion through the radial inflow hole, but the solid matter having a relatively large specific gravity is horizontally moved at the time of sedimentation. Since it hardly diffuses and settles as it is in the deposit area around the stopper member, some solid /
Liquid separation occurs and the amount of solids deposited on the filter surface is further reduced. These effects become more remarkable in the case of completely closing the top surface of the upper opening end while leaving only the radial inflow hole.

The shape of the container body in the transport and stool collection container of the present invention is such that the volume of liquid required for suspending feces at a desired concentration can be stored and that when the lid is attached. There is no particular limitation as long as it is of a cylindrical shape or a rectangular tube shape as long as it has a length such that the stool collecting rod fixed to is unusable. Further, the size of the container body is set to a maximum diameter of 10 mm or less so that it can be sent and / or returned by means of a mail envelope (standard size). Furthermore, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride or the like can be used as the material of the container body. In particular, a flexible material such as polyethylene or polypropylene is convenient because the fecal suspension in the container body can be easily pushed out.

As the material of the stool collecting rod provided in the lid, any material such as synthetic resin, glass, metal, ceramic, etc. can be used as long as it has a rigidity such that it can be easily inserted into feces. However, in order to form an airtight rubbing surface with the separation wall on the container body side, materials of the same quality as the various synthetic resins used for the container body are preferable.

Means for providing the container body and / or the lid body for sealing one end of the container body with the lid body includes:
Conventional means such as a screwing type and a fitting type may be used. Further, it is preferable to form a stopper member on the stool collection rod provided on the lid so as to engage with the separation wall at a position where the lid is completely screwed or fitted to the container body.

As the liquid for suspending feces, any liquid can be used within the range where the object of the present invention can be achieved, and if necessary, a buffer, a stabilizer, a preservative, You may add additives, such as a pigment and a deodorant.

As the buffering agent, a buffering agent that keeps the pH in the neutral range, such as HEPES, PIPES, TES, MO.
PS or the like is used, and the pH is selected in consideration of the stability of the component to be analyzed. It is also possible to add NaCl to a concentration of 0.9% to make an isotonic solution. As the stabilizer, proteins such as bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, and ovalbumin are added as stabilizers when the test subject is occult blood. The amount used is preferably about 0.1-10% W / V.

The amount of liquid between the container bodies is adjusted according to the required suspension concentration of feces. For example, 5 in the collection part of the stool collection stick
When mg feces are collected, a dilution ratio of 400 times can be obtained by adjusting the liquid volume to 2 ml.

It is convenient for the drip portion to be formed thin so that it can be easily drilled. In addition to forming the drip opening by perforation, it is also possible to scratch the projected portion and break it from the scratched portion.

The filter used in the container for transporting and collecting feces of the present invention is provided for the purpose of filtering undigested solid matter which is an obstacle at the time of inspection, and if the material is inert to the substance to be analyzed, its material is There is no particular limitation. Specific examples thereof include porous materials such as polyurethane sponge and filter paper, and fibrous materials such as glass wool and absorbent cotton. It is more preferable to use a filter for aseptic filtration such as a glass wool filter or a membrane filter having a predetermined pore size. Further, the filter may be made of one type, or may be formed by laminating two or more types of filters.

The container body is preferably cylindrical in terms of strength and easiness of manufacturing. In such a case, in order to prevent rolling of the container for transporting and collecting feces, an outer periphery of the container body is provided at the drip portion. You may form the flange which protrudes outward rather than the surface. The shape of the flange may be any shape as long as it can prevent the transportation of the feces sampling container from rolling, and is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include a square shape, a pentagonal shape, a hexagonal shape, and a star shape, or a chamfered deformation or shape thereof. Good. A flange or knurl similar to the above may be provided on the lid. Furthermore, rolling prevention shapes may be provided on both the drip portion and the lid.

Since the container body has a considerably elongated shape, if the inner wall surface is water-repellent, the liquid for suspending feces does not wet the entire inner wall surface and partially retains, so that the whole cannot be well stirred. Therefore, it is preferable that the inner wall surface is subjected to physical / chemical treatment or the container body material contains an antifogging agent in order to improve the water wettability of the inner wall surface.

[0034]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a transportation / stool collection container according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a cylindrical container body, 2 is a lid, 3 is a threaded portion between the container body 1 and the lid 2, and 4 is a stool collection rod integrally hung on the lower surface of the lid 2. Is a spiral groove formed at the tip thereof for accommodating a certain amount of feces, 4B is a groove as an air vent provided on the peripheral surface of the stool collection rod, and 5 is a drip portion provided at the lower end of the container body 1. 5A is a thin portion formed in the dropping portion, and all of these are formed by molding of synthetic resin. 6 is a filter part,
It is composed of a malt filter 6A and a glass wool filter 6B. A hollow tubular stopper ring 7 is concentrically fitted in the container body 1 above the filter portion 6 so as to fix and hold the filter portion 6 with the drip portion 5 below. ing.

In the other figures, 9 is a separating wall which is integrally and concentrically provided on the inner peripheral wall of the container body 1, and is slidably in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the stool collecting rod 4 when the stool collecting rod 4 is inserted. It is designed to scrape off a portion other than a predetermined amount of feces contained in the inside. A stopper 10 is provided on the outer circumference of the stool collecting rod 4 so as to restrict excessive pushing when the stool collecting rod is inserted.

As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 1 and the perspective view of FIG. 2, the stopper ring 7 is closed by an upper end portion 7A and a lower end opening portion 7B which contacts the filtering surface of the filter portion 6 downward.
And a suspension inflow portion 7C that gradually expands in diameter in the direction from the upper end portion 7A to the lower end opening portion 7B. Further, a deposit 8 is formed between the outer peripheral wall of the stopper ring 7 and the inner peripheral wall of the container body 1.

A large number of through holes 7D are formed in the peripheral wall near the upper end 7A of the stopper ring 7 as an inflow hole for communicating the inner inflow portion 7C and the depositing portion 8 in the radial direction of the container body 1. .

In the stool collection container of the present embodiment, 2.
Into the container body 1 filled with 0 cc of the aqueous solution, the stool collection rod 4 for collecting feces is inserted into the spiral groove 4A at the tip through the central hole of the separation wall 9. Feces attached to the tip end are scraped off by sliding contact with the hole wall surface of the separation wall 9, and the spiral groove 4
A predetermined amount of feces is left inside A.

In this case, the stopper 10 provided around the stool collecting rod 4 comes into contact with the upper end shoulder of the separation wall 4 at a predetermined insertion position by the threaded portion 3 of the lid body 2 with respect to the container body 1 so as to contact the stool collecting rod 4. Therefore, there is no possibility that the lid body 2 is erroneously forcibly rotated and excessively pushed into the container main body 1, thereby deforming or damaging the screwed portion 3, the device wall, or the like.

When the spiral groove 4A at the tip of the stool collecting rod 4 is dipped in the aqueous solution contained in the container body 1 as shown in FIG. 1, the feces retained in the spiral groove 4A are dissolved in the aqueous solution. And suspended to form a test sample S of a predetermined concentration

The solids suspended in the aqueous solution settle down gradually inside the container body 1, but most of the solids are ringed because the stopper ring 7 is closed at its upper end 7A. 7 is deposited on the bottom of the deposition portion 8 between the outer peripheral wall of the container 7 and the inner peripheral wall of the container body 1. Some solids are dispersed in the suspension inside the inflow portion 7C through the through holes 7D in the peripheral wall of the stopper ring 7. However, since the solid matter having a relatively large specific gravity is difficult to disperse in the radial direction during the downward sedimentation, the solid matter hardly flows into the inflow portion 7C.

Further, even if a small part of the solid matter is dispersed in the suspension inside the inflow portion 7C, the inflow portion 7C is expanded to the side of the lower end opening portion 7B in contact with the filtration surface of the filter 6. Therefore, the inflowing solid matter spreads over the filtration surface in a large area, and the height (thickness) of the deposited layer is remarkably reduced with the diameter expansion.

The stool collection container in which the stool suspension is sealed in the container body in this manner is delivered to a predetermined inspection agency by means such as mailing with a fixed-size envelope, and at the time of inspection, the thin wall 5A of the drip section 5 is used. Is pierced with a puncture tool or the like. Next, the peripheral wall of the container body 1 made of a flexible synthetic resin is squeezed so that the suspension liquid S inside is filtered by the filter portion 6
It is dripped to the outside through the drip unit 5 and provided for inspection.

In this case, most of the solid matter in the suspension settles on the bottom of the depositing portion 8 as described above, and it hardly exists on the filter filtration surface, so that the filter efficiency does not depend on the characteristics of the sample feces. The results are good and constant, and the amount of drops obtained in the analytical test is sufficient as an analytical sample, and there is almost no fluctuation between the containers.

In order to specifically confirm the effect of the present invention, the stool collection container provided with the stopper ring of the above embodiment and FIG.
Using the stool collection container having the conventional structure shown in Fig. 5, a drop experiment was conducted on the suspension by the same procedure as that of the example with respect to 5 types of samples with poor permeation that significantly reduce the filtration efficiency of the filter. Compared. The results are shown below.

[0047]

[Table 1]

As is clear from the above results, the number of drops of the conventional stool collection container using the stopper ring is extremely small, and the number of drops varies greatly depending on the type of stool. On the other hand, in the stool collection container using the stopper ring of the example, a practically sufficient number of drops can be obtained in order to carry out a quantitative reaction with the reagent, and it is 9 over each sample.
There is little variation with ~ 11 drops.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various improvements and changes can be made. For example, as the stopper ring, in addition to the structure shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper end 7A of the inflow portion 7C is opened and a comb-shaped notch portion 7E is provided at the peripheral edge thereof to form a radial inflow hole. Good. In this case as well, by making the area of the lower opening end 7B of the stopper ring 7 sufficiently larger than the total of the upper opening 7A and the notch 7A (7A + 7D is 1/3 or less of 7B), almost the same dropping is performed. The effect of increasing the number and stabilizing the sensitivity can be obtained.

[0050]

As described above, in the stool collection container of the present invention, the hollow tubular stopper member contacting the filtering surface of the filter is formed in a concentric shape having a smaller diameter than the container body, and the outer peripheral wall of the stopper member and the container body. A deposit portion for separating and precipitating solid matter in the suspension is formed between the inner peripheral wall of the stopper and the radial cross-sectional area of the stopper member is gradually increased from the upper end to the lower end of the filter surface opening end. Therefore, when the suspension of feces is formed in the container body, the thickness (height) of the solid matter deposited on the filter filtration surface is reduced to improve the filtration efficiency, and the number of drops is reduced accordingly. Can be increased and variations can be reduced to stabilize the analytical sensitivity during inspection.

Particularly, when an inflow hole is formed in the inflow part of the stopper member so as to penetrate through the peripheral wall in the radial direction, most of the solid matter settling in the suspension is settled in the depositing part, and The sedimentation of solids on the filtration surface is significantly reduced, since there is almost no dispersion from the directional inflow holes into the suspension in the inflow section.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a transportation / stool collection container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a ring-shaped stopper member provided in the transport / stool collection container shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another example of a ring-shaped stopper member provided in the transport / stool collection container shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional stool collection container.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Container main body 2 ... Lid body 3 ... Screwed portion 4 ... Stool collecting rod 4A ... Spiral groove 5 ... Drip portion 5A ... Thin portion 6 ... Filter portion 6A ... Malt filter 6B ... ... Glass wool filter 7 ... Stopper ring 7A ... Upper end opening 7B ... Lower end opening 7C ... Inflow part 7D, 7E ... Inflow hole 8 ... Sinking part 9 ... Separating wall 10 ... Stopper

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] September 22, 1995

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0006

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Since the immunological detection reagent is preset so as to obtain a sensitivity according to the expected amount of the sample, that is, the amount of feces, if the amount of feces to be tested is too small, the sensitivity is lowered. On the contrary, if the amount of feces to be inspected is too large, it is inconvenient for transportation, for example, by mail, and causes a bad odor. Furthermore, a problem arises when disposing of an extra sample (test feces) after the test is completed.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0029

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The amount of liquid between the container bodies is adjusted according to the required suspension concentration of feces. For example, when collecting 5 mg of stool in the collecting part of the stool collecting rod, a dilution rate of 400 times can be obtained by setting the liquid volume to 2 ml.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location G01N 33/50 N (72) Inventor Shigeru Aota 3-5-21 Okubo-cho, Konan-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa (72) Inventor Hiroaki Hayashi 540-4 Oma, Oma, Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tubular container body for containing a liquid for suspending feces therein, a lid body for sealing an upper end portion of the container body, and the container body vertically provided on a lower surface of the lid body. A stool collection rod inserted into the container body, a separation wall provided inside the container body to remove excess feces when the stool collection rod is inserted, and a stool suspension provided at the lower end of the container body. A filter for filtering the liquid, a drip portion that drips the filtrate provided below the filter, and a drip portion that is provided in contact with the filtration surface above the filter in the container body and between the drip portion. A transport fecal sampling container having a ring-shaped stopper member for sandwiching and fixing a filter, wherein the ring-shaped stopper member communicates with the inside of the cylindrical container body and an upper opening end and a lower opening in contact with the filtering surface of the filter. Inflow with end A cylindrical radial cross-sectional area of the inflow portion is gradually increased from the upper opening end to the lower opening end, and the outer peripheral wall of the ring-shaped stopper member and the cylindrical container body are provided. A container for transporting and collecting feces, characterized in that a sedimentation portion for at least partially separating and precipitating solid matter in the suspension is formed between the inner wall of the container and the inner peripheral wall of the material. 2. The transporting and collecting container according to claim 1, wherein a cylindrical radial inflow hole is formed through the peripheral wall of the stopper member to connect the inflow portion and the deposit portion of the stopper member. 3. The transportable stool collection container according to claim 1, wherein a comb-shaped notch is formed as an inflow hole in the cylinder radial direction at an edge portion of the upper opening end of the stopper member. 4. The transportation and collection according to claim 1, wherein the upper opening end of the stopper member is closed, and a large number of through holes are radially formed in the peripheral wall near the upper end as cylindrical inflow holes. container. 5. The transportation and collection container according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the upper opening end of the stopper member to the lower opening end thereof in the cylinder radial direction is 1/3 or less.