US2117621A - Colostomy appliance - Google Patents

Description

May 17, 1938. E. G. MILLS COLOSTOMY APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 18, 1936 Patented May 17, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE coLos'roMY APPLIANGE Edmund G. Mms, Newton, Mass. Application February 1s, 193s, serial No. 64,463

z claims. (ci. 12a-ess) 'This invention relates to improvements in colostomy appliances.

More particularly it provides a combined receptacle and shield for tting over and around an 5 orifice left in a human lateral abdominal wall upon a surgical removal of the lower part of the colon. As a receptacle. if its edges are tightly sealed against the abdominal wall, it receives and holds safely the intestinal discharge from said orifice until such time as convenience permits the patient ,to dispose of the same. As a shield it protects the region from casual blows, and from the rubbing of clothing.

The invention improves upon prior 'devices proposed for this general purpose,-in comfort, in

security and in convenience for the person who is other helping attain the improved emciency for` each other and for the device as a` whole.

The improved sealing engagement between the receptacle and the patients body assures, without discomfort, a safe holding of contents.

The single-strap up-pressing and in-pressing makes rm securement of the receptacle in its said sealing engagement without being subject to Y being disturbed by any ordinary active motions of the wearers body.

The pressing of the stiff walls edgewise to the body of the wearer, with curved extent-conforming to the wearers body curvature gives requisite intensity of pressure to hold the seal perfect. The receptacle has the general shape of an elliptical dome curved around the wearers body, with the basal terminus of this dome extending or receding without ceasing to be a part of the bulge or rise of such a dome. In other words, there is no basal flange.

These results are attained by making a shell of 45 sheet metal whose thin walls have shape approximating that of the surface of a semi-ellipsoid.

These edges when in .use will terminate abruptly against the wearers body. Instead of being cut straight, as on the plane of the longitudinal axis, their horizontal extent is concave, bowed outward with respect to that axis, to follow the horizontal curve of an abdomen. And at the ends of the shell the edge line of up and down extent line, as seen in projection on a vertical plane, is con- 55 vex toward the wearers body, being bowed inward as compared with the vertical axis of the elf lipsoid. This provides so that the shape, in general, bears against the outer abdominal wall with equal intensity of pressure at all points along the edge of th'e shell. A pair of slots in the shell, one 5 pair near each end, below the horizontal midheight of the shell, receive a single broad strip or belt, threaded through these slots so as to lie exteriorly along the wall of the shell, through the full distance between the slots, and again at each 10 end portion of the shell, beyond the slots, whence the belt passes around the patients body, and is secured by any suitable belt-fastening means, such as a buckle.

A sheet or sheets of any suitable absorbent ma- 15 terial, placed Within the shell as a lining, extend beyond the edges of the shell, all the way around, and intervene between those edges and the wearers body, as a sealing pad, against which the thin edges of the shell may be pressed by a suit- 20 able tightening of the belt. The described relation of the belt, shell and wearers body provides a coaction whereby the belt extends along the under slope of the bulge or dome of the shell; and there it applies pressure upward as well as 25 simultaneously inward against the wearers body.

The receptacle may be emptied in a convenient and sanitary manner, without the belt falling out of place, by holding the free unbuckled strap-end on the wearers under-garment, with an ordinary gn spring pinch clip, While the shell end is held in hand' and tipped outward. Fresh lining may be inserted While the shell is in this tipped position.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation showing a device embodying the invention applied at the abdomen of 40 a person;

Figure 2 is a top plan, on an enlarged scale, of the device of Figure 1 with the absorbent material omitted;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the device of 45 Figure 2;

Figure 4 is anelevation in section on v4--4 of Figure 1, on an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawing, the receptacle l0' preferably will be a light-weight metal shell having a modied semi-ellipsoid shape. The edges I2 ofthe shell have the sharpness of a smoothly cut piece of thin metal, so that under mild pressure these edges, all around the shell, embed themselves rather deeply in a pad I4 which ab- 55 sorbently lines the interior of the shell and which extends beyond the shell edges. 'lhis pad is relatively soft, for constituting a cushion between the sharp shell edges and the body of the person using the appliance; and its sharpness favors its deep seating in the cushion with consequent eii'ectiveness of sealing under a pressure which need be only gentle.

The shell preferably has length considerably greater than its width, and is arranged for its longer dimension to extend horizontally in direction around the wearers body. 'I'he upper and lower edges have a concave aspect when viewed from above, because they recede medially toward the crest of the bulge, for approximately fitting the curvature of the abdominal region of a persons body. 'Ihe short up and down edges at the ends of the shell have a 'convex aspect, when viewed in elevation, because medially they extend further from the crest of the bulge in order to reach and to press firmly the abdominal wall, which wall recedes as it proceeds laterally around the person. 'I'he described stiffness with approximation of actual ilt to body shape, coupled with the stiifness of edges, permits the edges to be pressed deeply linto the pad, about equally all the way around, under mild pressure applied' by the strap I6; and this assures a suiliciently tight seal at every location around the edge when the shell is bound in place by the belt I6.

The convexity of the sti shell-receptacle is utilized as a cqacting element in securing and maintaining the shell in proper position. For this I employ a. broad strap or belt I6, which may be of canvas or other suitably strong material, threaded through pairs of slots I8 provided in the shell near the ends. These are located in the under slope of the mound which the shell, constitutes, below the longitudinal axis of the shell. 'I'he belt engages exteriorly against this underslope-wall of the shell throughout the whole distance between the two pairs of slots i8; and engages exteriorly against each end portion of shell beyond the slots, whence the respective ends of the belt pass around the wearers body and are secured together by any suitable means, such as A the buckle 20.

In use, the receptacle shell is to be removably secured to the belt I6 by said threading of belt through slots I8 in the shell. 'Ihis attains the important end, that the receptacle cannot be accidentally detachable from the belt. When tightened, the single strap belt, passed around the narrow part of the wearers body, draws the receptacle firmly upward and inward tightly against the soft round surface of the abdomen. Nevertheless, by a mere loosening of the belt, it may be conveniently manipulated on and around the belt, for disposal of contents and for the inserting of a fresh lining pad. I'his manipulation is facilitated by the fact that the belt engages the receptacle low down on its under slope, permitting a. tilting of the receptacle outward over the loosened belt as a sustaining pivot. Yet these conveniences afforded for this operation detract nothing from the effectiveness and safety of the device when the belt is tightened against the wearers body. The cooperative eifect of the shell edges bedded in the soft pad material assure safety of sealing with a minimum of discomfort.

I claim as my invention:

l. A colostomyappliance comprising a domed shell, whose basal edge appears approximately as an ellipse when projected on a surface perpendicular to that axis of the dome which passes through its apex, wherein there are combined the features that, the side walls of the dome are curved so as to reach that basal 'edge at a steep angle to any plane perpendicular to that axis; and the course of said basal edge as seen from said axis is a succession of reverse curves, of which y those constituting the longer sides of the ellipse follow approximately the line at which the dome sides would be cut by an intersecting cylinder having the size and curvature of a human trunk and having its axis perpendicular to both the said axis of the dome and the longer axis of the ellipse; and there is a belt adapted to go around the body of a person wearing the appliance; and there is means on the shell for positioning the belt on the shell asymmetrically of the dome and on that slope thereof -which is lower when the appliance is being worn, being the slope below the plane through the apex and the longer axis of elliptical projection, whereby tension of the belt applies the shell with inward and upward pressure of its basal edge toward the body of a person wearing it.

2. A colostomy appliance asin claim l, in which the shell has near each end thereof, and below the bulge thereof, a pair of vertical slots through which said belt is threaded; and a pad within the shell having edge portions protruding for being engaged between the said edges of the shell and the body of the wearer.

EDMUND G. MILLS.

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