New catheter cuts risk of infections

A NEW type of catheter that uses the same stopper technique as a squeezy ketchup bottle could halve infection rates and save the NHS millions of pounds, its inventors claim.

Catheters can be used longor short-term to drain the bladder as part of a hospital procedure or if the patient suffers from incontinence issues, but come with a risk of side effects.

Directly or indirectly, use of catheters causes 250,000 serious infections, 3,000 deaths and up to £500million in healthcare costs each year in the UK, according to researchers at Southampton University.

However, laboratory trials of a new design of catheter carried out at the Bristol Urological Institute found it cut infection rates by up to 50 per cent.

Catheter design has stayed mainly the same since the 1930s, even though they suffer blockage issues when worn long-term.

A catheter typically becomes blocked within seven days, and this can result in stale urine storing in the bladder. The new valve restores the body’s natural bladder protection by ensuring it completely empties once full.

‘It works like any pressure-relief valve,’ says Dr Dave Seaward, project director at engineering firm 3P Innovation in Warwick, where it was invented. ‘When the bladder is full, the urine creates a pressure to open the valve in the catheter. With this new technology, once open, it stays open until there is no pressure at all left, meaning the bladder is completely emptied.’

The first clinical trial of the catheter involving patients, funded through an innovation programme run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, is set to start at Southampton University next month.