Hypothesis / aims of study
Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) is the gold standard treatment for chronic urinary retention due to neurogenic and non-neurogenic causes.
Compared to a long-term indwelling catheter, the CIC aims to provide patients with more independence, fewer complications and a better quality of life. The intention of this study is to analyze the level of satisfaction, quality of life and complications associated with CIC in an adult population.
Study design, materials and methods
Single center observational trial in which we included patients with chronic urinary retention of any etiology (neurogenic bladder dysfunction, neobladder, Mitrofanoff, etc.) and under CIC treatment.
The questionnaires ISC-Q ("Intermittent Self-Catheterization Questionnaire") by Pinder et al. (2012) focused in quality of life, along with the questionnaire developed by Håkansson et al. (2015) about complications and satisfaction associated with CIC, were both translated into Spanish and applied via telephone.
Among the topics included in these questionnaires are:
ease of use, convenience, discreetness, psychological well-being, catheter characteristics, infectious complications, non-infectious complications (bladder stones, false passage, hematuria, urethral strictures, etc), emergency department visits and hospital admissions.
Interpretation of results
Both questionnaires uniformly showed that most patients find it easy to use the catheters, they mostly feel comfortable and confident with CIC and only 11.7% of them feel that CIC limits their possibility of spending time with friends and family.
Most patients feel their catheter is discreet and storage of catheters for daily use is convenient, yet one-third of patients find inconvenient to take enough catheters for a 2-week holiday.
Complication rate with this intervention is low for most outcomes measured (bladder stones, urethral strictures, hematuria, etc) except for urinary tract infections with one-third of patients experiencing at least one urinary tract infection in the past year and almost one third having three or more.
Most patients are satisfied with their current catheter yet 11.8% would consider trying another one.