Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about urinary catheters.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero definals.com slash catheters

or in the urology section of the Zero to Finalsinals surgery book. So let's get straight into it.

Urinary catheters are tubes that are inserted into the bladder to passively drain urine.

Urine drains through the tube into a catheter bag. And the urinary catheters may be used short term

or long term depending on the indication. the urinary catheters may be used short term or long term depending on the

indication. When urinary catheters are left in the bladder, a balloon on the end of the catheter

is inflated inside the bladder with sterile water, usually about 10 milliliters, preventing the

catheter from falling out. Let's talk about the indications. The reasons for

inserting a urinary catheter include urinary retention due to a lower urinary tract obstruction,

for example, an enlarged prostate gland, neurogenic bladder, for example, intermittent self-catheterization

in patients with multiple sclerosis,

around the time of a surgical operation,

when patients need their urinary output monitoring, for example when they're acutely unwell with sepsis or in the intensive care unit,

for bladder irrigation, for example, to wash out blood clots from

the bladder, and for delivery of medications, for example, chemotherapy to treat bladder cancer.

A bladder scanner can be used to measure the volume of urine in the bladder.

A post-void bladder scan, measured after the patient attempts to empty their

bladder, can indicate the need for a catheter. For example, if they've opened their bladder as well as

they can and they still have more than 500 milliliters left in the bladder, this is an indication

for a catheter. A tom tip for you, a common presentation requiring catheterization is an older man

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