Tiny spikes shaped like shark fins could cut the number of urinary tract infections experienced by patients fitted with catheters.
These flexible hollow tubes, which are made of plastic, drain urine from the bladder into a bag for bedbound hospital patients who are unable to get to the loo. They are also used to check how much urine a patient is passing or to ensure that the bladder doesn't get too full during surgery.
However, the longer a catheter is in place, the more likely it is a urine infection will take hold.The new catheters have thousands of spikes, so small they're barely visible to the naked eye, coating the inside of the tube — each spike also points backwards (towards the end of the tube that exits the body).
This creates a type of obstacle course which makes it virtually impossible for infection-causing bacteria to crawl up the inside of the catheter to the urinary tract or the bladder.
Tiny spikes shaped like shark fins could cut the number of urinary tract infections experienced by patients fitted with catheters (stock photo)
Trapped by the spikes, the bacteria are then washed away by urine.Around one in five NHS hospital in-patients needs to be fitted with a urinary catheter. An estimated 90,000 people living in the community also have them.
Many are men with severe benign prostatic hyperplasia, where the prostate becomes enlarged and presses on the urethra — the tube that carries urine out of the body.
This can cause urinary retention: in severe cases, urine backs up into the kidneys and causes long-term damage. To prevent this, a catheter is often left in place for months, until men have surgery to reduce the size of the prostate.
A study by scientists at Public Health England, published in 2019, found there are roughly 50,000 catheter-induced urinary infections a year in NHS hospitals. The annual cost to the NHS of treating them is around £200 million.
Once bugs get into a catheter, they form a
slimy liquid hirschhausen Preis film that grows up the lining until it reaches the urinary tract and bladder — where bacteria thrive in the moist environment.
Catheters are often coated with antibiotics or metals such as silver to kill microbes. However, a growing number of bacteria are developing resistance to antibiotics.
The shark-fin spikes — developed at the California Institute of Technology in the U.S. — were created after researchers used an artificial intelligence computer program to work out what type of surface was likely to be best at halting the spread of bacteria.
Around one in five NHS hospital in-patients needs to be fitted with a urinary catheter. An estimated 90,000 people living in the community also have them (stock photo)
The AI software simulated what would happen with different surface textures — and identified shark-fin type spikes as the best solution.
The researchers used a 3D printer to build a prototype and tested it with liquid containing E. coli bacteria — the most common source of infections caused by catheters.
The results, published in the latest issue of Applied Sciences, showed that the build-up of bacteria on the lining of the catheter over a 24-hour period was less than 1 per cent of that normally seen in standard catheters without special linings. Clinical trials will start soon.
Chris Eden, a professor of urology at the Royal Surrey County Hospital, welcomed the findings but warned some infection-causing bacteria move slightly differently in a catheter than the E. coli that the researchers tested. He told Good Health: 'This is an exciting breakthrough, but it may not work for all bacteria known to colonise catheters.'
NHS