Patent Application
20200229962
The present disclosure generally relates to ostomy appliances, and more particularly to drainable ostomy pouches having closure systems.
Ostomy pouches for collecting body waste are used by patients who have had surgery such as a colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy. Ostomy pouches typically include flat, opposing side walls secured together along their edges to define a collection cavity. One of the side walls is provided with an opening to receive a stoma, and means to secure the pouch to the user, such as an adhesive barrier, so that body waste discharged through the stoma is received within the cavity.
The ostomy pouch may be a closed-end pouch for a single use, in which case the entire pouch is discarded after it has been substantially filled with stomal discharge. Alternatively, the ostomy pouch may be a drainable pouch with a discharge opening at its lower end, which may be closed during collection of body waste material but may be opened for draining body waste material from the pouch after a period of use. Such drainable pouches are disclosed, for example, in Nolan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,534, and Jensen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,659, which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
The discharge opening of drainable pouches is typically defined at the end of a narrowed outlet portion, which is provided with closure means for maintaining the discharge opening in a sealed condition until waste material is to be drained from the pouch. The closure means may take the form of a clamp, as in the aforementioned Nolan patent, or a device such as conventional wire ties or wraps for securing the outlet portion in an upwardly-rolled condition.
For quality of life of the users, drainable pouches should be easy to drain without risking soiling of clothes or the surroundings. They also should be easy to close securely after being drained and amenable to being cleaned after drainage and before closing again, such that the risk of unpleasant odor is substantially reduced. Most importantly, the closure means should provide a secure seal when closed to minimize the risk of leakage.
Many different solutions concerning the closing, cleaning and drainage operations have been proposed and implemented. For example, Villefrance et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,879,015 and Friske et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,672,907, which are commonly assigned with the present application and incorporated herein in their entirety by reference, disclose drainable pouches having integral closure systems. For obvious reasons, further improvements in the closure systems for easier operation and reduced risk of leakage are much desired by users.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved closure system for drainable pouches.
A drainable ostomy pouch comprising an outlet device including a closure member and a slider is provided according to various embodiments. The outlet device may be configured to provide an improved drainable pouch outlet that is easier to handle during draining and cleaning compared to conventional drainable pouch outlets. The outlet device may provide a liquid tight closure via a simple sliding motion using a slider that is configured to engage with a closure member. The outlet device may also be configured to allow a user to open the pouch outlet by applying pressure along opposite sides of the outlet device to provide a discharge opening having angled corners. Further, the outlet device may be formed from a relatively rigid material and provided with bend lines to facilitate opening of the pouch outlet. Such features may eliminate difficulties in opening an ostomy pouch due to the pouch outlet walls sticking together and bending in the same direction. Further, by providing a discharge opening having angled corners, the outlet device may provide improved flow control of body waste draining out through the discharge opening.
In one aspect, a drainable ostomy pouch may include a bodyside wall and an outer wall defining a cavity therebetween for collecting stomal discharge, and a downwardly extending outlet portion terminating in an outlet opening for draining stomal discharge contents collected in the cavity. The drainable ostomy pouch may also include an outlet device comprising a closure member and a slider attached to the outlet portion. The closure member may include a body including a first opening, a second opening, and four bend zones defined therebetween, and at least one bar arranged on the body proximate the second opening. The closure member may be configured to bend along the four bend zones to provide a discharge opening having four angled corners in an open position and to be pressed flat in a closed position. The slider may be configured to slide over the at least one bar and engage with the closure member to close the discharge opening.
The four bend zones may extend longitudinally along the body between the first and second openings. In an embodiment, the body may be formed from a single piece of a polymeric material, in which the bend zones are defined by crease lines or perforated lines. Alternatively, the body may be formed from four pieces of a polymeric sheet material, in which each piece defines a panel of the body, and four boundaries between the panels define the four bend zones.
In some embodiment, the bend zones may be symmetrically arranged, such that a distance between adjacent bend zones is generally equal to each other, and the closure member provides a generally square-shaped discharge opening in a fully opened position. In another embodiment, the bend zones may include first, second, third and fourth bend zones, wherein the first bend zone is adjacent the second and fourth bend zones. A distance between the first and second bend zone may be generally equal to a distance between the third and fourth bend zones, and a distance between the second and third bend zones may be generally equal to a distance between the first and fourth bend zones. In such an embodiment, the distance between the first and second bend zones may be greater than the distance between the second and third bend zones, such that the closure member may provide a generally rectangular discharge opening in a fully opened position.
In an embodiment, the at least one bar may include four bars, in which each of the four bars is arrange on an outer surface of the body proximate the second opening, such that each of the four bend zones is arranged between adjacent bars.
The closure member may include a soft material arranged proximate the second opening. The soft material may be configured and arranged to be compressed together when the closure member engages with the slider to provide a liquid tight seal closure. In an embodiment, the soft material may be attached to inner surfaces of the body opposite the at least one bar. In another embodiment, the soft material may be arranged on outer surfaces of the body between the at least one bar and the body. The soft material may be formed from a foam material.
In some embodiments, the closure member may be arranged in the outlet portion, such that the at least one bar extends beyond the outlet opening, and outer surfaces of the body are attached to adjacent inner surfaces of the outlet portion. The outlet device may be configured and arranged to allow a user to press along sides of the outlet portion to provide the discharge opening having the four angled corners.
In any of the forgoing embodiments, the drainable ostomy pouch may include a two-part fastening system comprising first and second fastener strips configured for securing the outlet portion in a folded up closed position. The outlet portion may be configured to be folded up two times to engage the first and second fastener strips to secure the folded outlet portion, wherein the outlet portion may be configured to fold along an upper periphery of the closure member proximate the first opening for a first fold and fold along a lower periphery of the closure member proximate the second opening for the second fold.
In an embodiment, the slider may have a generally u-shaped body including a channel configured to receive a peripheral portion of the closure member proximate the second opening including the at least one bar. In such an embodiment, the outlet device may be configured to provide a liquid tight seal when the slider engages the closure member and applies pressure over the peripheral portion of the closure member. Further, the slider may be configured to fold up longitudinally and slide over a side periphery of the outlet portion in an open position.
Other aspects, objectives and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The benefits and advantages of the present embodiments will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein:
While the present disclosure is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described presently preferred embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification and is not intended to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiments illustrated. The words “a” or “an” are to be taken to include both the singular and the plural. Conversely, any reference to plural items shall, where appropriate, include the singular.
Referring now to the figures,
The pouch walls 12, 14 may be formed from a suitable flexible material, such as a polymeric film, which may be a monolayer or multilayer film. Each of the pouch walls 12, 14 may be formed of one continuous flexible film to define the entire pouch including the outlet portion 18. Alternatively, the walls of the outlet portion 18 may be formed of separate flexible films than the walls of the pouch body. That is, the walls of the outlet portion 18 may be formed from a different polymeric film than the walls of the pouch body.
The body 25 may be formed from a suitable material. In some embodiments, the body 25 may be formed from a relatively rigid polymeric material having a thickness of about 2 mil to about 40 mil. The body 25 may be formed from a single piece of polymeric material, wherein the bend zones 28, 30, 32, 34 may be defined by crease lines or perforated lines. Alternatively, the body 25 may be formed using four separate panels joined together, in which boundaries between the panels define the bend zones 28, 30, 32, 34.
In the embodiments of
The bars 36, 28, 40, 42 may be formed from the same material as the body 25 or a different material. In an embodiment, the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be formed from a relatively rigid polymeric material having a greater thickness than the body 25. For example, the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be formed from a polymeric material having a thickness of about 5 mil to about 80 mil. In one embodiment, the closure member 24 including the body 25 and the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be formed via injection molding.
In an embodiment, the bend zones 28, 30, 32, 34 may be symmetrically arranged, such that a distance between adjacent bend zones is generally equal to each other. In such an embodiment, the closure member 24 may provide a generally square-shaped discharge opening 20 when fully opened as shown in
Alternatively, a closure member may be configured such that distances between adjacent bend zones are not all equal to each other.
As such, two longer bars 236, 240 and two shorter bars 238, 242 may be arranged between the bend zones 228, 230, 232, 234 as shown in
In an embodiment, each of the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be provided with a sharp edge 48 along a peripheral edge. The sharp edges 48 may be defined by a reduced thickness portion of the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 or a separate member having a sharper edge than the edge of the bars 36, 38, 40, 42. In such an embodiment, each of the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be arranged on the outer surfaces of the body 25 proximate the second opening 46, such that the sharp edges 48 may extend beyond an outer periphery of the body 25. The sharp edges 48 may be configured to reduce or prevent dripping and/or spilling when emptying body waste collected in an ostomy pouch through the discharge opening 20. In some embodiments, the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 may be configured to facilitate attachment of an adaptor for a night drainage bag.
The closure member 24 may also include a soft material 52 proximate the second opening 46 to facilitate sealing of the drainable ostomy pouch 10 in a closed position. In an embodiment, the soft material 52 may be attached to inner surfaces of the body 25 opposite the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 proximate the second opening 46 as shown in
The slider 26 may be configured to engage with the closure member 24 to provide a liquid tight closure for the ostomy pouch 10. In an embodiment, the slider 26 may be formed from a suitable polymeric material and configured to slide over the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 as shown in
In an embodiment, the slider 26 may be configured to fold up longitudinally and slide over a side periphery 56 of the pouch outlet portion 18 as shown in
In an embodiment, the closure member 24 may be arranged in the outlet portion 18 of the drainable pouch 10, such that the bars 36, 38, 40, 42 extend beyond an outer periphery 19 of the outlet portion 18 as shown in
When attached to the outlet portion 18, the outlet device 22 may allow a user to press along sides of the outlet portion 18 to provide the discharge opening 20 having angled corners defined at the four bend zones 28, 30, 32, 34. In some embodiments, the outlet device 22 may provide generally v-shaped corners in an open position as shown in
In an embodiment, the drainable pouch 10 may include a two-part fastening system comprising first and second fastener strips 58, 60 for securing the folded-up outlet portion 18 in a closed position as shown in
From the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated is intended or should be inferred. The disclosure is intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US18/26019 | 4/4/2018 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62481876 | Apr 2017 | US |
