Ostomy bag including a filter

Abstract: A bag or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body is made of two superposed sheets (10,12) of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges and has a filter (20) attached to an upper part of an interior surface of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, and an intervening wall (30) is included to separate the filter region from the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said wall being characterized by haivng a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square meter) and each hole having a maximum dimension of from 130 to 340 microns. A filter is disclosed for use with the bag which includes the following components laminated together in the following order: (a) a layer of hot-melt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to a wall of the bag; (b) a layer of microfine non-woven material; (c) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter member of carbon-impregnated polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer of hot-melt adhesive; and (f) a layer of non-woven fabric.

Description: This invention relates to a bag or pouch including a filter and for receiving discharge from the human body. Examples of such bags or pouches are ostomy pouches and wound drainage bags. The prior art is replete with designs of filter and with proposals for their inclusion in an ostomy bag, all directed at the problem of allowing escape of flatus gases from the bag while removing noxious-smelling components from such gases. Examples of proposals can be seen in U.K. Patent Nos. 1 117 204, 1 405 032, 1 462 492, 1 595 047, 1 595 906, 1 596 496, 2 036 564 and 2 059 797 and Canadian Patent 631 987, but there are many others. It has proved difficult to meet the important requirements of good filtering efficiency, comfort in wear, and minimum filter thickness. It will be appreciated that as an ostomy bag is worn under clothing, the bag plus filter desirably should be unobtrusive. Comfort in wear firstly requires flexibility of the filter as well as the bag and it is also desirable that the filter parts should be spaced from the tender stomal region. The present invention aims to solve or at least greatly mitigate these problems. European Patent Application No. (EP-A) 191 646 discloses a pad impregnated with a deodorizing agent (e.g. activated carbon) and made of any open cell plastic foam material which is laminated together with a first microporous membrane. A layer of water repellent material is applied on the surface of the first microporous membrane other than the surface to which the foam pad is attached. The layer is sufficiently thin that gas flow through the microporous membrane is not blocked. This pad is usable in a clip-on filter. That is, the filter is attached to an outer surface of one of the bag walls. The pouch disclosed in EP 191 646 does not have an intervening wall. The present applicant has suggested in U.K. Patent No. 2 139 501B that an ostomy bag particularly for ileostomy patients should be constructed with an intervening wall dividing the bag into two chambers. In U.K. Patent Application No. 2 149 306 there is disclosed a pouch suitable for ileostomy patients which has a partial intervening wall. The present invention improves upon these concepts by providing an intervening wall of a particularly advantageous nature. According to the present invention, a bag or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body is made of two superposed sheets of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges and has a filter attached to an upper part of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, characterized in that the filter is attached to an interior surface of one of the walls; and the bag or pouch includes an intervening wall to separate the filter region from the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said intervening wall having a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square meter) and each hole having a maximum dimension of from 75 to 300 microns. It has been surprisingly found that these values allow fully adequate flow of gas from the bag interior to the filter region and yet do not permit any substantial wetting of the filter, or clogging of the filter by body exudations such as fecal slurry. It is preferred that each hole is substantially circular, and that the holes should be substantially uniformly spaced over the whole of the intervening wall. The filter preferably (but not necessarily) includes the following components laminated together in the following order:- (a) a layer of hot-melt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to a wall of the bag; (b) a layer of microfine non-woven material; (c) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter member of carbon-impregnated polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; and (f) a layer of non-woven fabric. The filter is, as stated, disposed in the space defined between the bag wall and the intervening wall. Preferably, the bag wall has an S-shaped cut therein to allow exit of flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter. The intervening wall in use serves to permit the passage of flatus gases from bag interior to filter but substantially prevent passage of liquids or solids. As an alternative, any suitable filter may be used. The layer of non-woven fabric in the preferred filter has an air permeability in the range 0.25-1.0 c.c./ cms ²/sec at 10 mm W.P.G., and has a weight of 64 gm/m² plus or minus 10%. The resulting laminated filter assembly has been found to have excellent deodorizing properties as well as high transmissibility to gas. In an H₂S deodorization test, a fully satisfactory deodorization was achieved with a flow of over 9 liters in 45 minutes. The invention will be better understood from the following description of a particular embodiment thereof, given with references to the accompanying illustrative and non-limiting drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of one embodiment of an ostomy bag according to the invention; Figure 2 is a rear view (i.e, looking directly at the body-side of the bag) of the bag shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section of the bag shown in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a cross-section through part of the non-body side wall of the ostomy bag shown in Figures 1-3, illustrating the filter and the intervening wall; and Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the filter showing its laminated construction. Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 3 the illustrated ostomy bag is largely conventional and comprises front and rear panels 10, 12 of synthetic plastics material joined around their edge by any suitable plastics welding or joining technique to constitute an ostomy bag. In addition, to give comfort and a warm feel to the skin, a needled film 14 overlays the rear bag wall. A stomal orifice 16 (Figure 2) extends through the needled film and the rear bag wall and a pad 18 of medical grade adhesive, having thereon a polyethylene layer, is included so that the ostomy bag can be stuck to the body of the wearer in conventional manner. The adhesive surface of this medical grade pad is exposed by pulling off a protective layer of release paper. Suitable medical grade adhesive compositions are pressure sensitive adhesive formulations that consist of a homogenous blend of one or more water soluble or water swellable hydrocolloids dispersed in a viscous elastomeric substance such as polyisobutylene as disclosed by Chen in U.S. Patent 3,339,546. Optionally, the adhesive composition can also include one or more cohesive strengthening agents as described by Chen et al. in U.S. Patent 4,192,785 or one or more hydratable natural or synthetic polymers as described by Pawelchak et al. in U.S. Patent 4,393,080. Preferably, the adhesive pad includes a thin water insoluable polymeric film such as polyethylene. As will be seen in Figures 1 and 2 a filter assembly 20 is located at an upper corner of the bag and the bag wall 10 has therein an S-shaped cut located substantially centrally of the filter assembly 20. Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, although the filter assembly is seen as circular in these Figures, clearly this is not essential. It could be oval or rectangular or any other convenient shape. The illustrated filter assembly includes the following layers, and is attached to the inside surface of the bag front wall 10. The layers are listed in the order moving from the bag wall towards the interior of the bag, and comprise: (a) a layer 200 of hot melt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to the wall of the bag; (b) a layer 202 of microfine non-woven material; Trade Name LUTROVIL 708 is particularly suitable; (c) a matrix layer 204 of hot melt adhesive; (d) a filter disc 206, preferably 2 mm thick, of carbon-impregnated crushed polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer 208 of hot melt adhesive and (f) a layer 210 of non-woven fabric. Not connected to the filter, but connected to the bag wall by a closed loop weld entirely surrounding the filter, is an intervening wall 30. This is preferably made of EBA (ethylene butylacrylate) synthetic plastics material 50 microns thick, needled at about 160 holes per square inch, that is, about 248000 holes per square meter. One may employ from about 155000 to 465000 holes per square meter (100 to 300 holes per square inch) or, more preferably, from about 186000 to 310000 holes per square meter (120 to 200 holes per square inch). The holes are preferably substantially circular, though this is not absolutely essential. The maximum dimension of each hole may be from 75 to 300 microns, preferably 100 to 250 microns, and more preferably 110 to 240 microns. The purpose of the intervening wall 30 is to permit gas flow therethrough but substantially prevent any liquid or solid bag contents coming into contact with the filter. The layers 202-210 specified above are integrated into a filter assembly by heat and pressure, following which the filter assembly is attached to the interior surface of the bag wall by suitably activating, by heating the adhesive layer 200. One suitable material for the layer 202 is a polypropylene microfine non-woven film. A suitable film of this type is known under the Trade Name LUTROVIL 708. A suitable material for the layer 210 is a gas-permeable non-woven synthetic plastics material known by a manufacturer's designation V115/463. By adopting this design, a satisfactory filter securely attached within an ostomy bag can be provided, the overall thickness of the bag in the filter region being well under 2 1/2 mm. Moreover, both filter and bag are flexible and are unobtrusive even when worn under thin clothing. The bag and filter are also flexible and tend to follow the contours of the wearer's body. As an advantageous feature to enhance the overall flexibility of the bag, the backing film on the medical grade adhesive is preferably embossed polyethylene. A film embossed with grooves is particularly preferred. A groove height and width of the order of around one-tenth of a millimeter may be employed. Another advantageous feature of the illustrated design is that the medical grade adhesive may have thereon a sheet of paper carrying dimensioned circles as a guidance for the user when cutting a stomal orifice of the appropriate diameter in the medical grade adhesive pad. The adhesive is covered with a layer of release paper. The release paper is made to project slightly beyond the medical grade adhesive at regions located, for example, at the two ends of a horizontal diameter, such projection being for example about 2 or 3 mm. beyond the adhesive. These projections form an easily gripped tab to facilitate the peeling off of the release sheet carrying the stomal diameter diagrams once the necessary hole has been cut by scissors by the wearer in the conventional manner.

Claims: A bag or pouch for receiving discharge from the human body, comprising: two superposed sheets (10, 12) of synthetic plastics material joined around their edges; and a filter (20) attached to an upper part of one of the walls, there being a hole or slit in the wall to allow gases exiting the filter to pass to the exterior of the bag or pouch, characterised in that the filter is attached to an interior surface of one of the walls; and the bag or pouch includes an intervening wall to separate the filter region from the remainder of the interior of the bag or pouch, said intervening wall 30 having a series of scattered holes therein, there being from 100 to 300 holes per square inch (155000 to 465000 holes per square meter) and each hole having a maximum dimension of from 75 to 300 microns. A bag or pouch according to claim 1, in which the filter includes the following components laminated together in the following order: (a) a layer of hot-melt adhesive whereby the filter may be affixed to a wall of the bag; (b) a layer of microfine non-woven material; (c) a matrix layer of hot-melt adhesive; (d) a filter member of carbon-impregnated polyurethane open cell foam; (e) a matrix layer of hot melt adhesive; and (f) a layer of non-woven fabric. A bag or pouch according to claim 2 in which the layer of non-woven fabric of the filter has an air permeability in the range 0.25-1.0 c.c/cms²/sec at 10 mm W.P.G., and has a weight of 64 gm/m² plus or minus 10%. A bag or pouch according to Claim 1 in which the bag or pouch wall has an S-shaped cut therein to allow exit of the flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter. A bag or pouch according to Claim 2 in which the bag or pouch wall has an S-shaped cut therein to allow exit of the flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter. A bag or pouch according to Claim 3 in which the bag or pouch wall has an S-shaped cut therein to allow exit of the flatus gases, located substantially at a central region of the filter. A bag or pouch according to Claim 1 including a pad of medical grade adhesive by which the bag or pouch can be attached to a wearer, said adhesive having thereon a layer of release paper arranged to project slightly beyond the adhesive. A bag or pouch according to Claim 2 including a pad of medical grade by which the bag or pouch can be attached to a wearer, said adhesive having thereon a layer of release paper arranged to project slightly beyond the adhesive.

Inventors: PLASS RONALD ANDREW, STEER PETER LESLIE, WHITING GERALD THOMAS, PLASS, RONALD ANDREW, STEER, PETER LESLIE, WHITING, GERALD THOMAS
Applicants: SQUIBB & SONS INC, E.R. SQUIBB & SONS, INC.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: A61F5
IPC codes: A61F5