A simple guidewire and angiocatheter technique for urinary catheter placement.

OBJECTIVE

To report on a simple technique of inserting any difficult urinary catheter using a hydrophilic guidewire and an angiocatheter.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A total of 764 requests were made to the urology team for assistance with a difficult urinary catheter placement. For all patients, either a regular or bent-tip catheter was attempted first. If the initial placement attempt failed, our technique using an angiocatheter, a hydrophilic guidewire, and a urinary catheter of choice was then employed.

RESULTS

We were able to successfully insert 526 regular or bent-tip indwelling urinary catheters on first attempt (68.8%). Two hundred and four (26.7%) placements required the use of our described technique. No complication was encountered from the bedside maneuver.

CONCLUSIONS

Our method is safe, easily learned, and performed. The technique saves time, effort, and resources, as it averts the necessity of rare use of expensive equipment, bedside flexible cystoscopy, and cystotomy.