Patent Application
20150290024
Colostomy is the surgical procedure of making an opening from the colon to the outside of the abdomen. In a colostomy, the surgeon may remove a segment of the colon, resulting in the colon being split into two separate parts. One end of the colon is passed through a small hole in the abdominal wall. This section of intestine called a stoma, allows for body waste to leave the body from the colon. The other end of the colon, which is attached to the rectum, may either be removed or closed off with sutures and left in the abdomen. There are other similar stoma operations such as ileostomy which is a stoma from the small intestine, and urostomy which is a stoma from the urinary system. Operations are performed for temporary or permanent stomas.
Such operations are performed on humans and animals as well. In all cases, stoma wafers are used which are adhesive skin barriers or skin flanges with an orifice at the center to allow the stoma to protrude. These stoma wafers consist of either a one piece wafer and bag or a two piece wafer with a snap-on or similar attachment for the bag. The bags are also known as pouches in the ostomy field. The bags snap on and serve to hold the body waste. Many pouches are equipped with vents and filters. Still many more products are being produced specifically for stomas. Conventional methods of stoma flanges or stoma wafers or stoma skin barriers and stoma pouches allow the body wastes to leave the stoma and to fall directly into the collecting pouch. Several patents have been applied for apparatus and methods of eliminating excess liquids or venting gases and filtering odors of pouches. A stoma releases gases and liquids which accumulate in the pouch and may force the pouch to open or burst at the mechanical detachable seam unless the gas or liquid is evacuated as it builds up. Initially a valve was installed to collect gases and to filter with activated carbon the odours and send the gases to a vent bag, such is the case with
A] January 1954, the U.S. Pat. No. 2,667,167 in January 1954 by P.A. Raiche.
Later on, when ostomy bags became common several ostomy pouch venting mechanisms on ostomy pouches were patented in the U.S.
B] Sep. 18, 1973 the U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,260 was made public for a built-in vent and filter on a bag or pouch.
C] Feb. 11, 1975 the U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,109 was made public for a built in vent with a slot for venting purposes.
D] Nov. 17, 1981 the U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,560 was made public for an ostomy bag having a built in bottom drain valve on the bag held in position by a plastic block welded on the pouch.
E] May 22, 1984 the U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,970 was made public for a built in a vent and filter on a bag with a flip cap to open or shut the vent.
F] Apr. 26, 1994 the U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,623 was made public for a built in vent on a bag with a filter and an outlet opening for the filtered gases.
G] Nov. 24, 1998 the U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,073 was made public for a different style of built in vent on an ostomy bag with an original removable filter insert.
H] Jan. 9, 2007 the U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,275 B2 was made public for a complex built in vent and filter on an ostomy bag.
I] May 8, 2007, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,217 B2 was made public for a built in gas filter with an outlet gas aperture
J] Oct. 20, 2009, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,604,622 was made public for yet another built in vent with filter on a bag.
All of the vents, or valves, or gas release devices for ostomy bags that have been patented to date in the U.S. are built in on the bags. The valves do not come separately from the bags.
There are vents that come separately from the bag that are glued on ostomy bags for a one time use but they have not been patented in the U.S. This vent equipped with a flip up cap is glued to the upper front section of the ostomy bag. The flip up cap is opened and a hole is punctured through the center of the glued on vent. The hole punctures the center of the vent and the ostomy bag, simultaneously, allowing the gases to escape. The flip cap is kept shut to seal in the gases. The vent and flip cap resemble the vent apparatus of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,970, but in a format that has an adhesive back.
The present invention is for a valve used as a vent or a drain, made from rigid or flexible impermeable material such as polyethylene, wherein this valve controls ostomy pouch gas or liquid output. This valve is attached mechanically to ostomy bags is removed mechanically from the used bag before disposal of the ostomy bag, is washed and is used again on a new ostomy bag. The process can go on indefinitely since material such as polyethylene does not wear out easily in this application.
It is an object of the present invention to create equipment and its corresponding method of evacuating ostomy gases or liquids from ostomy pouches used on the stoma of a colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy patient by which method the ostomy valve is produced independently from the bag. The valve is installed on the bag. A stopper is used to control mechanically the gas or liquid release. The valve is removed from the used ostomy bag, before the bag is discarded, is washed and is used again on a fresh ostomy bag.
The valve consists of
The description of the apparatus and the method of installation are as follows:
A hole smaller or equal to the diameter of the tube is punctured through the wall or walls of the ostomy bag.
The tube is pushed half way into the interior of the bag via the puncture.
One o-ring is installed onto the tube by sliding over the outer circumference of the section of the tube located in the interior of the bag.
The second-identical o-ring is installed the same way as the first o-ring onto the tube section located on the exterior of the bag.
The two o-rings are squeezed together.
The two o-rings remain in position by friction thus squeezing the bag walls without allowing gases or liquids to escape.
The two o-rings could remain in position by friction with the addition of adhesive if the unions become loose.
The two o-rings could be bolts instead of o-rings that bolt onto the tube that is threaded on the exterior.
The two o-rings could be two rings that fit together by having one ring male connecting and the other ring female connecting together or vise versa with the impermeable wall or walls of an ostomy bag fitted and held together mechanically between the snap-on rings snapped together.
The stopper is inserted inside the open exhaust end of the valve tube at the outside of the bag.
The stopper is removed and put back as required to control gases or liquids.
Before the used ostomy bag is discarded, the o-rings are detached, the tube is removed from the ostomy bag and all the items, including the stopper are washed and used again.
The valve is used indefinitely on new or undamaged ostomy bags.
With this invention:
1) Tube
2) Exterior o-ring
3) Stopper
4) Inner impermeable ostomy bag wall
5) Vent
6) Drain
7) Pouch stoma opening
8) Front
9) Hollow
10) Top
11) Bottom
12) Top
13) Bottom
14) Front
15) Exterior
16) Interior
17) Exterior
18) Exterior
19) Tapered
20) Outer protective ostomy bag wall
21) Interior o-ring
22) Ostomy bag
The present invention is the method and the equipment invented to eliminate or evacuate stoma gases and liquids.
The valve consists of the following parts:
One (1) tube that:
Is a hollow cylindrical, rigid or flexible impermeable tube:
Has both open ends tapered on the outer circumference.
Is from ¼ inch to 1 inch long.
Has an internal diameter of 1/16 to ¼ inches
Has a wall thickness of 1/64 to 1/16 inches.
Two (2) identical o-rings that:
Are rigid or flexible.
Are impermeable.
Have the same internal diameter or slightly smaller than the external diameter of the tube used.
Have a wall thickness of 1/64 to ¼ inches.
Have a width of 1/64 to ¼ inches
One (1) stopper that:
Is of rigid or flexible material
Is impermeable.
Is cylindrical, square, or rectangular as long as the mass of the stopper is large enough to plug either open end of the tube.
The method of use of the ostomy pouch valve is as follows:
Please note that similar valves using two rings and a tube could be produced but will be considered as proprietary to this invention because of the use of the principle of a tube, two o-rings and a stopper.
Instead of o-rings squeezing the bag walls together the valve could be in the form of:
A hollow tube that is threaded on the outside with bolts squeezing the bag walls together when the bolts are bolted closer together with the pouch walls wedged securely between them.
A hollow tube that uses a male mechanically connecting ring on the tube in the inside of the bag and a female connecting ring on the tube on the outside of the bag or vise versa and the two male/female rings are mechanically connected together thus wedging the ostomy bag walls securely between them.
This valve could be used as a vent by installing at the upper portion of the ostomy bag or as a drain valve by installing at the lower section of the ostomy bag.
In all cases adhesive could be added to the unions for further solidification.
