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Review
. 2024 Jun;238(6):713-727.
doi: 10.1177/09544119231178468. Epub 2023 Jun 10.

Understanding the properties of intermittent catheters to inform future development

Jessica V Moore  1 , Jane Burns  1 , Nicola McClelland  1 , James Quinn  1 , Colin P McCoy  1
Affiliations
Review

Understanding the properties of intermittent catheters to inform future development

Jessica V Moore et al. Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Despite the extensive use of intermittent catheters (ICs) in healthcare, various issues persist for long-term IC users, such as pain, discomfort, infection, and tissue damage, including strictures, scarring and micro-abrasions. A lubricous IC surface is considered necessary to reduce patient pain and trauma, and therefore is a primary focus of IC development to improve patient comfort. While an important consideration, other factors should be routinely investigated to inform future IC development. An array of in vitro tests should be employed to assess IC's lubricity, biocompatibility and the risk of urinary tract infection development associated with their use. Herein, we highlight the importance of current in vitro characterisation techniques, the demand for optimisation and an unmet need to develop a universal 'toolkit' to assess IC properties.

Keywords: Intermittent catheters; biocompatibility; friction; in vitro characterisation; lubricity; pathogen displacement; urethral micro-trauma; urinary tract infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Graphical abstract
Graphical abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic of catheters with (i) conventional tip, (ii) Coudé tip and, (iii) Tieman tip. Images drawn with bioRender 2022.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Suggested universal ‘toolkit’ to assess intermittent catheter properties.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Diagram depicting novel in vitro urethra model showing how pathogens can be displaced during intermittent catheterisation. Adapted from Cortese et al. Images drawn with bioRender 2022.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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