Bladder catheterization, female
A catheter (a hollow tube, often with an inflatable balloon tip) may be inserted into the urinary bladder when there is a urinary obstruction, following surgical procedures to the urethra, in unconscious patients (due to surgical anesthesia, coma, etc.), or for any other problem in which the bladder needs to be kept empty (decompressed) and urinary flow assured.
Review Date: 09/07/2008
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of
General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine; and Louis S. Liou, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor
of Urology, Department of Surgery, Boston University School of
Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director,
A.D.A.M., Inc.
