Once-daily irrigation of long-term urethral catheters with normal saline. Lack of benefit. [Urinary catheterization: transurethral or suprapubic approach?].
Urinary incontinence is often managed with a long-term urethral catheter after other methods have failed. Such urethral catheterization is associated with polymicrobial bacteriuria, catheter obstruction, fever, bacteremia, urinary tract stones, and death. Periodic catheter irrigation is a common but untested management procedure intended to prevent catheter obstruction, fevers, and/or bacteremia. To evaluate this technique, we performed a randomized crossover trial comparing ten weeks of once-daily normal saline irrigation with ten weeks of no irrigation in 32 long-term catheterized women. The incidence of catheter obstructions and febrile episodes and the prevalence and species of bacteriuria were similar whether examined as completed crossover patients (N = 23) or as partially completed trials (N = 9). Once-daily irrigation with normal saline of long-term urethral catheters is a time-consuming and costly procedure that is unlikely to have an impact on the morbidity associated with such catheters. 75 patients, needing a bladder drainage for nonurological indications and having sterile urines were studied after randomization into two groups. In the first group, drained with an urethral catheter, urinary infection took place in 12 (= 30%) patients, while it was detected in 4 (= 11%) drained with a suprapubic catheter. In this latter group, patients felt more comfortable, had less pain; the duration of urinary drainage and hospital stay was shorter.
The updated search could not reveal any additional evidence. Very few trials have compared different types of catheter for long-term bladder drainage. All trials were small and showed methodological weaknesses. Therefore, the evidence was not sufficient as a reliable basis for practical conclusions. Further, better quality trials are needed to address the current lack of evidence in this clinically important area.