How to take stool in a routine bowel movement

If there is a problem with the human body, certain examinations are necessary. For some special diseases, routine stool examination is required. Routine stool examination can help detect digestive tract diseases, parasitic infections, gastroenteritis, liver diseases and other diseases early. Early detection allows for timely treatment to prevent the condition from worsening. Below, we will introduce in detail the relevant matters of routine stool examination.

1. Introduction to bowel routine

Routine stool tests can reveal whether the digestive tract is infected with bacteria, viruses, or parasites, detect gastroenteritis and liver disease early, and can also serve as a diagnostic screening for digestive tract tumors. Routine stool tests include testing for the presence of red blood cells and white blood cells in the stool, bacterial sensitivity tests, occult blood tests (OB), and checks for worm eggs. Routine stool examination is a necessary examination item for judging the health status of the human body.

2. When is it necessary to collect stool specimens?

When children visiting the outpatient department have changes in the frequency or nature of their bowel movements, in order to understand whether the digestive tract and organs such as the liver, gallbladder, pancreas that lead to the intestines have inflammation, bleeding, parasitic infection, etc., or to check whether there are viruses or pathogenic bacteria in the stool to prevent and treat intestinal infectious diseases, the attending doctor will generally ask the parents to collect stool samples from the child for relevant examinations, mainly including: routine stool tests, fecal occult blood, parasite egg microscopy, rotavirus antigen, stool culture and other examination items. Except for hospitalized children with the above symptoms who need to collect stool samples for relevant examinations, all other children need to undergo routine stool examinations.

3. How to collect stool specimens

1. Items to prepare: specimen box (provided by the hospital) or disposable paper cup (self-prepared, cannot absorb water); cotton swab or bamboo stick.

2. When collecting stool, be careful not to mix it with urine. If the stool is loose or unformed, collect it in a clean container first. Do not scoop it from a diaper, toilet, or the ground to prevent the water in the stool from being absorbed by the diaper or mixed with sewage, urine, and other secretions, which will affect the test results. If the stool is formed, use a cotton swab or bamboo stick to collect a piece of fresh stool about the size of a peanut, put it into a specimen box or disposable paper cup, and send it for inspection immediately. If the stool has an abnormal appearance such as mucus, pus, blood, etc., the part with mucus, pus, blood or other abnormal appearance must be selected for inspection.

3. When checking stool parasites, if it is necessary to hatch schistosome miracidia, it is best to retain a full portion of fresh feces (no less than 30g); if it is necessary to examine amoeba trophozoites, immediately obtain samples from the purulent or soft part after defecation, keep the specimens warm, and immediately smear them for microscopic examination. The slides should be heated; if it is necessary to examine pinworm eggs, a transparent film swab can be used to swab the samples from the folds around the anus in the early morning before defecation; if other parasite examinations are performed, try to retain a little from each part of the feces to increase the positive rate of the examination.

4. When checking for occult blood in stool, try to avoid taking vitamin C, iron, and bismuth preparations 3 days before collecting the specimen, and avoid eating meat, liver, blood, large amounts of green vegetables, and iron-containing foods to avoid false positive results during the examination.

5. The specimen for stool culture examination should be collected in a clean toilet, and then a sterile cotton swab should be used to obtain a small amount of abnormal parts such as mucus, pus, blood, etc. on the stool (if no abnormalities are found, samples can be obtained from different parts of the stool surface or deep in the stool), and placed in the specimen box (to be completed by family members). Or dip a sterile cotton swab in saline and insert it 5-7 cm into the anus. Gently rotate it to bring out a small amount of stool, and place it in a test tube for testing (this is done by medical staff).

6. The specimen should be fresh stool. If the stool is dry, it will cause the death of insect eggs or bacteria. If the specimen is retained for too long, problems such as cell lysis and destruction may occur, which may affect the test results. Therefore, the stool should be sent for inspection as soon as possible after being collected (sent to the laboratory for inspection within 1 hour).