Stool Analysis

How It Is Done

Stool samples can be collected at home, in your doctor's office, at a medical clinic, or at the hospital. If you collect the samples at home, you will be given stool collection kits to use each day. Each kit contains applicator sticks and two sterile containers.

You may need to collect more than one sample over 1 to 3 days. Follow the same procedure for each day.

Collect the samples as follows:

• Urinate before collecting the stool so that you do not get any urine in the stool sample.
• Put on gloves before handling your stool. Stool can contain germs that spread infection. Wash your hands after you remove your gloves.
• Pass stool (but no urine) into a dry container. You may be given a plastic basin that can be placed under the toilet seat to catch the stool.
  • Either solid or liquid stool can be collected.
  • If you have diarrhea, a large plastic bag taped to the toilet seat may make the collection process easier; the bag is then placed in a plastic container.
  • If you are constipated, you may be given a small enema.
  • Do not collect the sample from the toilet bowl.
  • Do not mix toilet paper, water, or soap with the sample.
• Place the lid on the container and label it with your name, your doctor's name, and the date the stool was collected. Use one container for each day's collection, and collect a sample only once a day unless your doctor gives you other directions.

Take the sealed container to your doctor's office or the laboratory as soon as possible. You may need to deliver your sample to the lab within a certain time. Tell your doctor if you think you may have trouble getting the sample to the lab on time.

If the stool is collected in your doctor's office or the hospital, you will pass the stool in a plastic container that is inserted under the toilet seat or in a bedpan. A health professional will package the sample for laboratory analysis.

You will need to collect stool for 3 days in a row if the sample is being tested for quantitative fats. You will begin collecting stool on the morning of the first day. The samples are placed in a large container and then refrigerated.

You may need to collect several stool samples over 7 to 10 days if you have digestive symptoms after traveling outside the country.

Samples from babies and young children may be collected from diapers (if the stool is not contaminated with urine) or from a small-diameter glass tube inserted into the baby's rectum while the baby is held on an adult's lap.

Sometimes a stool sample is collected using a rectal swab that contains a preservative. The swab is inserted into the rectum, rotated gently, and then withdrawn. It is placed in a clean, dry container and sent to the lab right away.