The Journal of urology
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The Journal of urology · Nov 1979
Urinary tract infections occurring in recent spinal cord injury patients on intermittent catheterization.
During a 28-month interval 70 spinal cord injury patients in the initial rehabilitation hospitalization underwent 5,052 days of intermittent catheterization. Intermittent catheterization was done with a sterile technique and a neomycin-polymyxin irrigant. At the time of transfer to our facility 39 patients were using Foley catheter drainage but no difficulty was encountered when these patients were changed to intermittent cateterization. ⋯ Infections caused by organisms susceptible to the irrigant containing neomycin-polymyxin occurred almost exclusively in patients catheterized 3 or fewer times daily. Infection was rare after 3 months on intermittent catheterization. Intermittent catheterization with our technique poses little infection hazard and can be introduced readily in acute spinal cord injury patients before transfer to specialized facilities.