Evaluating the Potential of a New Low-Profile Urinary Catheter in Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract...

To investigate the efficacy of a new low-profile catheter on incidence of the catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in comatose patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

Catheter-induced urothelial injury is a key component in the development of urinary tract infections in catheterized patients.

In this prospective randomized blinded clinical trial, 80 patients requiring indwelling urinary catheterization were equally randomized to either the standard Foley catheter (control) or the low-profile catheter (experimental) group. The signs of urinary tract infection for comatose patients were considered (ie, ≥10⁵ of colony-forming unit/milliliter of urine, hematuria, serum leukocytes, and body temperature) and recorded at baseline and on days 3 and 5 after catheterization. The analysis of covariance was applied by the SPSS-20 software at a 95% confidence level.

An increasing proportion of patients with elevated urinary colony counts were seen in the Foley catheter group compared with the low-profile catheter group (12.5% vs 5%). However, there were no between-group differences in the urinary colony counts and body temperature after controlling for antibiotic doses and fluid intake. Patients in the low-profile catheter group had significantly lower rates of hematuria and serum leukocytes than those in the Foley catheter group.

A newly designed low-profile urinary catheter has demonstrated a trend toward reducing the incidence of CAUTI in patients with indwelling urinary catheters. Further studies with larger sample sizes and follow-up are needed to confirm the benefits.