[Sterilization of catheters used for intermittent bladder emptying using a domestic microwave oven]

In contemporary urology it is increasingly frequent the indication of intermittent catheterization. Patients undergoing this type of therapy use several non-standardized methods to make catheterization as clean as possible. Microwave sterilization has been successfully used for certain materials and biological residues. For this reason and because it is a rather inexpensive system, we tried to demonstrate that sterilization of catheters used by our patients for intermittent catheterization using domestic microwave ovens at home is a convenient, inexpensive and clean alternative that should be taken into account. The catheters used were those employed in our hospitalized patients for a minimum of 4 days, which involves a high percentage of contamination. In 15 cases, the catheter was treated in a 800 W domestic microwave oven after having washed it with water so as to eliminate macroscopic organic residues, and in another 15 cases they were thoroughly washed before microwave treatment. In either case, the treatment was done for over 6 minutes at maximum power with the precautions described in the text. In all instances, the catheter's sterility was confirmed except for one case where contamination occurred during post-treatment handling.