Safe duration of silicon catheter replacement in urological patients.

Objectives: This study compared the infection rates, degree of encrustation, symptoms, and complications in patients regarding the duration of urethral catheterisation (three weeks, six weeks, and eight weeks).

Design: A cross-sectional study with stratified simple random sampling.

Setting: Urology Unit, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Participants: One hundred and thirty-seven male patients with long-term urinary catheters.

Interventions: Participants were grouped into 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks duration of catheter replacements.

Primary outcomes measures: Symptoms due to the urinary catheters, urinalysis, urine and catheter tip cultures, sensitivity, and catheter encrustations were assessed.

Results: Eighty-six patients had a primary diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), 35 had urethral strictures,13 had prostate cancer, two had BPH and urethral strictures, and one participant had bladder cancer. There was no difference in the symptoms the participants in the different groups experienced due to the urinary catheters (p > 0.05). The frequency of occurrence of complications (pyuria, p = 0.784; blocked catheter, p=0.097; urethral bleeding, p=0.148; epididymo-orchitis, p=0.769 and bladder spasms, p=1.000) showed no differences in the three groups. There was no statistical difference in the urinalysis for the three groups (p>0.05) and the degree of encrustations (3 weeks: 0.03 ± 0.06, 6 weeks: 0.11±0.27 and eight weeks: 0.12 ±0.27) with p=0.065.

Conclusions: In this study, the duration of urinary catheterisation using silicone Foley's catheters did not influence the complication and symptom rates; hence silicon catheters can be placed in situ for up to 8 weeks before replacement instead of the traditional three-weekly change.

Funding: Enterprise Computing Limited.