catheterization
Meaning of catheterization: One word covering procedures that share nothing but a tube: draining a bladder and steering a wire into the heart both qualify.
Definition of catheterization
Catheterization is the passing of a thin flexible tube into a body cavity, duct or blood vessel, either to drain or sample what is inside or to deliver fluid, medicine, contrast dye or an instrument. The word spans procedures as different as draining urine from the bladder and threading a tube through an artery to the heart. Route, tube and technique follow from the purpose.
What is it used for?
| Procedure | Where the tube goes | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Urinary catheterization | Along the urethra into the bladder | Drain retained urine, measure output, empty for surgery |
| Cardiac catheterization | From a wrist or groin artery to the heart | Measure pressures, inject dye, open narrowed arteries |
| Central venous catheterization | Into a large vein near the heart | Give drugs and fluids, measure pressure |
| Nephrostomy | Through the skin into the kidney | Drain urine when the tube to the bladder is blocked |
The common thread is access rather than anatomy. A catheter reaches a place a needle cannot stay and a surgeon would rather not open. Once in position it works in both directions, taking fluid out and putting fluid in, and in the cardiac version it also ferries balloons, stents and measuring wires along its length.
Why is infection the recurring risk?
Because a tube crosses a barrier the body depends on. Skin and the lining of the urethra normally keep bacteria out, and a catheter props a doorway open through them while offering a surface to grow on. Organisms settle there in a film that ordinary defenses and antibiotics penetrate poorly. Risk therefore climbs with the number of days the tube stays in rather than with the act of insertion, and urinary catheter infections are among the most frequent infections acquired in hospital. That is why hospital systems count catheter days rather than insertions, and why whether the tube is still needed is asked repeatedly rather than once.
What forms does a urinary catheter take?
Three, in the main. An intermittent catheter is passed to empty the bladder and withdrawn straight away, often several times a day and often by the person concerned, where nerve damage prevents normal emptying. An indwelling catheter stays in place, held by a small balloon inflated inside the bladder and draining into a bag. A suprapubic catheter enters through the lower abdominal wall instead of the urethra, used where the urethra is blocked, injured or unsuitable for long-term use. Blockage, bladder spasm, leakage around the tube and blood in the urine are recognized problems with all three.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Cardiac catheterization was arranged after the stress test showed a reversible defect.
Good to know
Infection risk rises with each day a catheter remains in place rather than with the insertion itself, because bacteria build a film on the tube surface that ordinary defenses and antibiotics reach poorly.
Word origin
Where “catheterization” comes from
From the Greek katheter, a thing let down, built on kathienai, to send down.