JP7120538B2 - breath collection bag - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to breath collection bags.

In recent years, it has become possible to know the state of health, diseases, etc. of a person by examining exhaled breath, that is, breath. The components contained in this breath to be investigated are extremely small, and there are many small molecules such as hydrogen.

Needless to say, to measure the concentration of such trace elements, pure exhaled breath must be collected. This is because the density changes as much as the atmosphere mixes. Furthermore, human breath is not necessarily gas exchanged in the lungs. In other words, the inhaled air does not reach the lungs and is retained in the mouth and respiratory tract, and when it is exhaled, the gas is not the gas exchanged in the lungs, so it cannot be used for various examinations. Not even.

The most testable gas is the last exhaled breath, called the end-tidal breath. Even if the gas in the mouth and respiratory tract that is exhaled first is out of the question, even if it disappears and the gas from the lungs is exhaled, the gas that is still mixed with the gas that still remains in the mouth and respiratory tract is exhaled. The gas is almost purely from the lungs.

For this reason, doctors or examiners are instructed not to use a certain amount (at least, the volume of the mouth and airways) for the examination. As a method, a doctor or the like instructs the patient to discard a certain amount of exhaled air and collect the last exhaled air into a container.

The above method can be used when the subject (person who undergoes the test of their own breath) is in the examination room, but recently, it is becoming more common for subjects who are far away to send only their breath and request the test. .
In such a case, since there is no such expert nearby, even if you instructed to send only exhaled air from the lungs in a bag, the subjects (many of them are elderly) do not fully understand. It is difficult to do so.

Therefore, various breath collection bags have been devised and marketed. The breath test bag described in Patent Document 1 has an opening for blowing in breath, but is not designed to collect only breath from the lungs. Moreover, Patent Document 2 has two openings, an inhalation port and an exhaust port, and it is not known when the end expiration will come out.

JP-A-9-215675 JP 2014-157039 A

Therefore, the present invention provides an exhaled breath collection bag that allows even general elderly people who do not have an examiner nearby to easily collect their terminal exhaled breath.

In view of the above circumstances, the present inventors have completed the breath collection bag of the present invention as a result of extensive research. There is an extension projecting part, the extension projecting part is an opening, a cylinder body is detachably inserted into the opening part, and the cylinder body has a whistle part that emits a sound when exhaled air is blown. It is in the point of having.

A bag simply means a bag, and it is sufficient if it can contain gas. Its shape is free.
Preferably, the two films are brought together and glued or fused around their peripheries. This structure is a structure in which two films are pasted together, and is easy to manufacture and does not require a large space for storage.
However, the capacity may be increased by providing a portion similar to the "gusset" of an envelope.

The film may be an aluminum foil, a plastic film deposited with aluminum, a laminate of aluminum foil and a plastic film, or a film using at least aluminum. Aluminum is used because small molecules such as hydrogen gas are permeable through plastic films. If hydrogen is the object of inspection, the object is easily missed. This makes the test almost meaningless.

The bag consists of a main body and an extension projection. The shape of the main body portion is preferably rectangular in plan view. Rectangular or square. Of course, other shapes such as circles, polygons, etc. are also possible.
The size is not limited in the case of a rectangle (including a square), but a length of 10 to 20 cm and a width of 10 to 20 cm are suitable. The volume required for measurement of human end expiration is about several tens of mL to 300 mL, and the above size is sufficient.

The extended projecting portion is also preferably rectangular in plan view. Of course, it is the same as the main body that other shapes may be used. The size is not limited in the case of a rectangle (including a square), but a length of 3 to 10 cm and a width of 3 to 6 cm are suitable.

This extended projection is the opening. In other words, the tip of the extended projecting portion is open. A cylindrical body, which will be described later, is inserted into this opening.

The cylindrical body is basically for blowing exhaled air into the main body, and is detachably inserted into the extension projecting part.
The size is also not limited, but the inner diameter is preferably about 5 to 15 mm, and the length is preferably 3 to 10 mm.
Furthermore, as a point of the present invention, this cylinder has a whistle that emits a sound when exhaled. Of course, a part may be a whistle, or the whole may be a whistle.

Produce this sound in the normal way, as long as the sound comes out when you exhale with normal force. The whistle portion may be a specially provided whistle that easily produces a sound, or may be simply a whistle with a hole.
This cylindrical body requires holes in addition to the front and rear openings. This hole may also serve as the whistle portion. Conversely, even if it produces sound, it cannot be used if it has only front and rear openings and no holes in the middle. Holes other than the front and rear openings are referred to as intermediate holes. Ejection is stopped by pressing the intermediate hole with a finger.
A tube without a hole in the middle, that is, a tube that forms a whistle in the cylinder so that exhaled air enters only the bag and does not have a port for exiting to the outside cannot be used in the present invention.

Next, a method for using the breath collection bag of the present invention will be described.
First, take only the cylinder, take a deep breath, blow it like a flute, and exhale completely. At this time, while listening to the sound, check the watch for how many seconds you have continued to vomit. Even if you don't have to use a stopwatch to make a precise measurement, you can use the second hand of a watch to make a rough measurement. For an adult, it is normally about 8 to 15 seconds. Of course, it varies greatly depending on the age, the person's health condition, the presence or absence of lung-related diseases, and the like.
Especially in the case of the elderly, sick, and children, it is difficult to measure the time while breathing on their own with a watch, so an attendant or a family member should do it. No one knows Taka except himself. However, in the present invention, since sound is produced, family members can be clearly identified, and the time can be clearly determined. This is a major feature of the present invention.

Then, this time is memorized, and the last two seconds or so are considered to be the end expiration. This is not limited to 2 seconds, but may be 3 seconds, and may be considered in terms of the required expiratory volume. Then, remember the number of seconds you exhaled for the first time minus, for example, 2 seconds. For example, if you finish vomiting in 11 seconds, and the end is 2 seconds, the time to throw up is 9 seconds.

The barrel is then inserted into the opening of the extension projection of the breath collection bag. The depth of insertion is such that the intermediate hole of the cylindrical body does not enter the extension projecting portion. This is because exhaled air must be discharged to the outside through this intermediate hole.
Then, beyond the tip of the inserted cylindrical body, the extended projecting portion is pressed with a finger to prevent exhaled air from entering the bag. This is the state of exhaling.

The subject then takes a full breath in, and blows out. During the previous 9 seconds, the exhaled air is expelled to the outside through the intermediate hole. When 9 seconds have passed, release the finger that was holding the extended projecting portion, and close the intermediate hole with the finger. And blow it to the end.
After blowing to the end, press the extension projecting part with your finger again and pull out the cylinder. The extended projection is then folded or sealed with a sealer. Since it is an aluminum product, it can be almost sealed simply by folding it several times and fixing it with adhesive tape. Of course, it may be sealed with a sealing tool (various commercially available) for sandwiching an opening for sealing a plastic bag. In addition, if heat can be applied for pressure bonding, a sealer may be used for sealing.
The pressure inside the bag is usually higher than the air, so air cannot enter and change the concentration.

The sealed product may be sent to a testing facility. Of course, a family member or other person may carry the patient.

The present invention has the following effects.
(1) It is possible to easily measure the blowing time because a sound is produced when blowing.
(2) It is easy to exhale by using the hole of the whistle.
(3) The bag is made of aluminum and is highly gas-sealing.
(4) Terminal expiration can be collected very easily.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the exhaled breath collection bag of the present invention with the cylindrical body removed; It is a perspective view which shows one example of a cylinder. 1 is a plan view of one example of a breath collection bag of the present invention; FIG. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of another example of the exhaled breath collection bag of the present invention, excluding the tubular body;

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail based on examples below, but the examples are examples and are not intended to limit the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of an exhaled breath collection bag (excluding the cylinder) 1 of the present invention. It is composed of a body portion 2 and an extension projecting portion 3 . The material is aluminum foil. A hatched portion 4 is a portion where two sheets of aluminum foil are adhered. A tip portion 5 of the extension projecting portion 3 is an opening.

The size of this example is 14 cm in length (L), 12 cm in width (W), and E
is 5 cm and D is 4 cm. Of course, the size may be freely changed according to the necessary amount of inspection.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one example of the cylindrical body 6. As shown in FIG. It is made of plastic and is relatively flexible. A midway hole 7 is provided in the central portion. In some cases, this midway hole 7 alone may produce a sound, but in this example, a separate whistle (not shown) is fitted in the cylindrical body 6 .

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the cylindrical body 6 is inserted into the extension projecting portion 3 of FIG. The intermediate hole 7 of the cylindrical body 6 is located outside the extension projecting portion 3 . Then, the portion 8 of the extension projecting portion 3 where the cylindrical body 6 is not inserted is pressed with a finger to prevent the inflow of expired air.
In order to facilitate the prevention of inflow, the channel in this portion may be slightly narrowed. The extension projection 3 is relatively short in this example, but could be longer.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 1, but has a gusset at the bottom to increase the capacity. By doing so, the vertical and horizontal sizes can be reduced.

1 Exhaled breath collection bag of the present invention (excluding cylindrical body)
2 main body 3 extended projecting portion 4 hatched portion 5 tip portion 6 cylindrical body 7 middle hole 8 portion where cylindrical body is not inserted

Claims (6)

a bag of aluminum material comprising a main body and an extension projection ;
a cylindrical body that is detachably inserted into the opening of the extension protrusion ,
The cylinder has a whistle part that emits a sound when exhaled air is blown in, and a middle hole that can be closed to allow the exhaled air to be blown into the bag,
An exhaled breath collection bag , wherein the intermediate hole is provided in the side surface of the cylindrical body and is not blocked by the extended projecting portion . 2. The exhaled breath collection bag according to claim 1, wherein the length of the portion of the tubular body inserted into the extension protrusion is shorter than the length of the extension protrusion. 3. The exhaled breath collection bag according to claim 2, wherein a portion of the extension projecting portion where the cylindrical body is not inserted is narrower than a portion where the cylindrical body is inserted. a bag of aluminum material comprising a main body and an extension projection ;
a cylindrical body that is detachably inserted into the opening of the extension protrusion ,
The cylinder has a whistle part that emits a sound when exhaled air is blown in, and a middle hole that can be closed to allow the exhaled air to be blown into the bag,
A breath collection method for collecting breath using a breath collection bag, characterized in that the intermediate hole is provided in the side surface of the cylindrical body and is not blocked by the extension projecting portion,
a step of blowing exhalation into the cylindrical body removed from the opening and generating a sound with the whistle to measure the time to completely exhale;
In a state in which the cylindrical body is inserted into the opening, the extended projecting portion is pressed so that the exhaled air does not enter the bag, and the exhaled air is blown in for a time shorter than the exhalation time to blow the exhaled air from the intermediate hole to the outside. expelling exhaled air to
and a step of closing the intermediate hole with a finger and blowing the expired air into the bag immediately after expelling the expired air from the intermediate hole to the outside. 5. The breath collection method according to claim 4, wherein the measurement of the time to completely exhale is carried out by a person other than the person blowing in the breath. 2. The time shorter than the time to completely exhale is 2 to 3 seconds shorter than the time to completely exhale by blowing exhalation into the cylindrical body and generating a sound with the whistle section. 6. The breath collection method according to claim 4 or claim 5.

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