Clinical Study to Assess the Efficacy of a Novel Micro-Patterned Foley Catheter to Reduce Catheter-Associated UrinaryTract Infection Among Spinal Cord Injury Patients

Roughly half of the two million nosocomial infections that occur each year are associated with the use of a medical device. Approximately 30 million urinary catheters are inserted each year into the bladder of over five million patients, and each catheterized patient is at risk of developing catheter-associated symptomatic urinary tract infection. About 95% of urinary tract infections are associated with the use of a urinary catheter. Not only is catheter associated urinary tract infection the most common nosocomial infection in general, but it is also the most common infectious reason for admission to the hospital among the population of 275 thousand Americans with spinal cord injury, which expands by approximately 12 thousand persons each year. Hospital-acquired infections boost today's healthcare costs by billions of dollars and healthcare providers are increasingly responsible for shouldering these costs.

Catheter-associated symptomatic urinary tract infection is usually caused by organisms that originate from the patient's own colonic and perineal flora, or the hands of healthcare personnel during catheter insertion and manipulation of the collection system. Microbial species predominantly migrate into the bladder extraluminally via the mucoid film that forms between the catheter surface and the urethra. Current approaches for preventing catheter-related infections include antimicrobial modification of the catheter surface. Although these antimicrobial-based catheters aim to eradicate bacteria residing in the vicinity of the catheter surface, they can result in antibiotic resistance, which could have serious implications on patient care.

A novel urinary catheter, the Micro-Patterned Foley catheter has been developed that incorporates a micro-pattern texture on the surface; the texture is too small to see or feel, but has demonstrated an impressive effect in the laboratory inhibiting microbial attachment to the surface and microbial migration along the micro-patterned catheter segments. The objective of the study is to determine whether the novel Micro-Patterned catheter can delay the onset of catheter associated urinary tract infection in catheterized spinal cord injured patients. If successful, this catheter will help improve quality of patient care and reduce cost of care by reducing the need for antibiotic treatment. This finding could extend to other patient populations that require urinary catheterization.