Catheter
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(Redirected from Catheterization)
In medicine, a catheter is a tube that a health professional may insert into part of the body. The process of inserting a catheter is catheterization. In most uses it is a thin, flexible tube: a "soft" catheter; in some, it is a larger, solid tube: a "hard" catheter. It was first invented by Benjamin Franklin.
Placement of a catheter into a particular part of the body may allow:
- draining urine from the urinary bladder as in urinary catheterization, i.e. Foley catheter or even when the urethra is damaged as in suprapubic catheterization. By comparison, a Texas catheter is not inserted into the urethra, but connects to the penis via a condom-like envelope with a drainage tube at its tip.
- drainage of fluid collections, e.g. an abdominal abscess
- administration of intravenous fluids, medication or parenteral nutrition
- angioplasty
- direct measurement of blood pressure in a artery or vein
A central line is a conduit for giving drugs or fluids into a large-bore catheter positioned either in a vein near the heart or just inside the atrium. A Swan-Ganz catheter is a special type of catheter placed into the pulmonary artery for measuring pressures in the heart.
