Clinical application of the Bardex IC Foley catheter

Objectives: We performed two randomized prospective studies with the silver -coated Bardex IC catheter in order to evaluate the incidence of bacteriuri a during short- and medium-term catheterization after urological procedures . Methods: During catheterization only consecutive suprapubic urine samples were taken and cultured. After removal of the catheter the patient was all owed one wash-out void, and before the second micturition a suprapubic punc ture was performed to collect a culture specimen. Results: In the first tri al, after radical prostatectomy 18 patients with the Bardex IC catheter wer e compared to 17 patients with a silicon catheter after the same procedure. There was no significant difference in bacteriuria after 14 days (50.0 vs. 53.3%). In the second part of the study 180 patients were evaluated 101 wi th latex and 79 with Bardex IC catheters. The median catheterization time w as 5 days. The results show a significant delay in the onset of bacteriuria when a silver alloy catheter is used (p < 0.003). On day 5 only 6.3% had b acteriuria in the Bardex IC group versus 11.9% in the latex group. Conclusi on: We conclude that, after urological procedures, short-term catheterizati on with the Bardex IC catheter is superior to the classical latex catheter.