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Application of poly ethylene glycol hydrogel to overcome latex urinary catheter related problems
Author(s) -
Sankar Sriram,
Rajalakshmi T.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
biofactors
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.204
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1872-8081
pISSN - 0951-6433
DOI - 10.1002/biof.5520300403
Subject(s) - ethylene glycol , coating , polyethylene glycol , catheter , materials science , urinary catheter , photoinitiator , biomedical engineering , adhesion , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , surgery , monomer , chemistry , composite material , medicine , organic chemistry , polymer , engineering
Urinary catherization is a routine procedure in an intensive care unit (ICU) for monitoring the urine output of critically ill patients. The catheters which are most often used to help with urinary incontinence and retention also face problems like blockage, leakage and infection. These problems are due to proteins that adhere to the catheter surface and quickly build up on each other forming a protein layer. As the layers build up they can crystallize, providing the major source of blockage and leakage. Current strategies to avoid these problems include coating a catheter with silver alloy to reduce bacteria on the catheter surface. However, silver alloy coatings can lead to increased silver resistance for bacteria. Since silver is already used as an antibacterial agent in many places in a hospital, it is even more possible that resistance can develop. An alternative solution is presented involving coating latex, a common urinary catheter material with a micro layer (5‐100 microns) of polyethylene glycol. This hydrogel is applied using an interfacial photopolymerizatoin process with ethyl eosin as the photoinitiator. A 25 ppm concentration of ethyl eosin provided the strongest gel to surface adhesion and significantly lowered protein adhesion when compared to an uncoated latex substrate.