Modern people have long been accustomed to the frantic pace of life. Each of them chooses for himself the best way of rational use of time. And most of the time they prefer to save precious hours on their meals (snacks on the go, dinners in a fast food cafe, skipping meals during the day). All this leads to various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Do not ignore problems with the intestines and wait until everything goes away by itself, as this can contribute to the development of serious diseases.
Coprogram
Often with problems with the gastrointestinal tract, in order to make the correct diagnosis, it is necessary to make a laboratory study of bowel movements - a coprogram. The results of this survey contain important data on the state of human health. And their reliability directly depends on the quality of the studied material. It is very important to know how to properly store and collect feces.
Collection rules
- It is necessary to prepare a sterile container.
- Empty the bladder.
- Using soap or furatsilin should process the surface of the genitals.
- It is necessary to select the required amount of material for analysis, place it in a container and tightly close the lid.
And how much feces do you need for analysis? A volume of 1-2 teaspoons will be quite enough.
It is necessary to collect feces in the morning, on the day the tests are taken. The selected material must be delivered to the laboratory within an hour.
The procedure can be carried out in the evening, but taking into account the fact that the interval between the collection and delivery of the material for analysis does not exceed eight hours. However, in this case the question begs: "How to store the analysis of feces?" Now let's figure it out.
Storage conditions
Since a temperature of +4 to +8 degrees is optimal for storing fecal matter, it is best to keep feces in the refrigerator.
The test container should be placed on the middle shelf. No need to place it on door shelves or too close to the freezer. This is due to the fact that feces completely freeze all their original properties when frozen. Then the test results will be incorrect.
How much to store?
There is often a debate among medical professionals about how much fecal analysis can be stored in the refrigerator. The answers to this question can be very diverse. To get reliable research results, you should consider how much you can store stool analysis in the refrigerator. And it will depend on the purpose of passing this analysis.
So, for example, for a regular coprogram, the material is allowed to store no more than 8 hours. Of course, the actual location in the refrigerator of the analysis tank should be less. After all, you need to take into account the time to travel to the laboratory.
How much stool analysis can be stored in the refrigerator? For analysis, to determine the intestinal microflora, feces must be delivered no later than three hours, and it must be collected certainly in the morning. This is due to the fact that the lifetime of many bacteria is small. Therefore, they simply can not stand long storage. If the delivery deadlines are not met, the results will be unreliable.
How much feces analysis can be stored? For example, feces intended for analysis for the presence of worms, amoeba, giardia are also not subject to long-term storage. A container with the material must be provided for examination no later than six hours from the time of defecation. However, many laboratory workers believe that you can store no more than two hours. Therefore, in order to determine exactly how much stool analysis for worms should be stored, before passing it, you need to consult a laboratory.
If a hidden blood test is performed, feces can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than six hours. In this case, the temperature should be from +4 to +6 degrees.
If there is no way to take feces
In the case when it is not possible to collect and deliver the feces in time to the laboratory, you can resort to another method, or rather, pass a scraping from the intestinal mucosa. In this case, the material will be taken with a cotton swab, which is placed in a hermetically sealed tube and sent to the laboratory for two hours.
Scraping is mainly taken from children. It is impossible to completely replace the process of collecting feces with this procedure. Since most diseases can not be detected in this way. How exactly to take the analysis should be checked with your doctor.
You must adhere to the rules!
Many people who are prescribed this medical examination simply do not attach importance to the generally accepted rules for the collection and storage of feces. The results of such neglect can be very different. Indeed, in the case of long-term storage, a large number of bacteria simply die, and the remaining microorganisms, on the contrary, begin to multiply. The same thing happens when freezing the material. The results of such a study will initially be incorrect.
The likelihood that the attending physician will be alerted by the results of the tests and he will send you for re-examination is quite small. Most often, the wrong treatment is simply prescribed. As a result, the problem that the patient has addressed not only does not disappear, but can also lead to a serious complication or the development of a new disease.
Features of the collection and shelf life of the analysis of feces of the infant
Almost all infants under three months of age are concerned about colic and bloating. This time, young parents just need to survive. However, if the child is already more than four months old, and this problem has not disappeared anywhere, and in addition to it, the child’s stool has a greenish tint or impurities of blood and mucus, then you should immediately contact your local pediatrician.
In this case, in order to correctly determine the diagnosis and prescribe treatment, the doctor usually gives a direction for delivery of feces of the baby for analysis.
The process of collecting feces in infants is quite difficult. Therefore, parents have to go to a number of tricks to do this.
To begin with, it is best to purchase a special container for stool storage, which is sold in any pharmacy. It is necessary to collect bowel movements in the morning. If a child poops every day in the morning, at a certain time, then this greatly simplifies the task.
Since it is impossible to wash a child immediately before a bowel movement, you should simply carry out daily hygiene procedures. Provided that the baby's stool is of normal consistency, it can be collected from the surface of the diaper. Do not press on the diaper so that foreign substances and urine do not get into the test material. If the stool is liquid, then it is best to put the child on an oilcloth, with which you can then simply transfer the feces into a jar.
It is necessary to deliver the test container to the laboratory within three hours after collection. At this time, the container should be stored in the refrigerator, hermetically sealed.
Conclusion
Now it’s clear how much stool analysis can be stored in the refrigerator. Summing up all the above, we can conclude that it is important to adhere to the rules for collecting and storing the studied material in order to obtain the most reliable result. Of course, the best option would be to immediately transport the tests to the laboratory. But if this is not possible, then you should put the container in the refrigerator, taking into account all the rules. This will avoid the possibility of prescribing the wrong treatment, and also eliminate the need for re-collection of tests.