FAQs

What is a Foley catheter?

For a variety of medical reasons, some patients are either unable to urinate (pee) or can’t control when they urinate.  A Foley catheter is inserted into the urethra all the way to the bladder to drain urine into a collection bag outside of your body. Foley catheters are also called indwelling urinary catheters.

Multiple research studies have shown that a majority of patients with a Foley catheter experience some level of discomfort or pain. Patients with Foley catheters experience UTI’s (urinary tract infections) so frequently that they have their own name, CAUTI (catheter associated UTI’s). Some patients experience bladder spasms. Severe complications such as irreversible genital damage are less common, and can be avoided with proper use and care.

Foley catheters are one of the most common medical devices and are used with patients in a wide variety of care settings. Foley catheter use during and immediately after many surgical procedures is considered routine. Patients recovering from prostate surgery can expect to have a Foley catheter for 1-2 weeks. Patients who are unable to urinate (retention), and patients who are unable to control urination (incontinence) also use Foley catheters.

The urethra is the lumen or tube in the body that urine travels through to be eliminated. It is  sensitive and lined with a mucosal membrane similar to the mouth or nose. When a Foley catheter is inserted in the urethra it often moves when patients move their bodies throughout the day. The movement of the catheter shaft causes friction against the urethra that over time can be painful and cause injury inside the urethra.

How long a patient needs a Foley catheter varies widely. A surgical patient may have a catheter during their surgery and then removed as soon as they recover.  Prostate surgery patients may have a Foley catheter for a week to 10 days. Many ICU patients will have a Foley catheter until they are released from the ICU. Longer term use is common for patients with compromised mobility such as nursing home residents. Foley catheter use for one or more years in long-term care facilities is very common.

Currently available catheters that attempt to reduce friction (and many do not even try) rely on lubricants and coatings that only minimize the impact of a sliding catheter shaft, but there is still a foreign object sliding inside the urethra. Over time lubricants and coatings become less effective because they wear off or dry up.

Proluma’s patented catheter design effectively eliminates friction in the urethra by using a proprietary sleeve that separates the catheter shaft from the urethra. The catheter shaft can slide inside the sleeve, but the sleeve does not slide against the urethra. Because nothing slides inside the urethra, there is no friction to cause injury to the urethra.

Proluma does not yet have a Foley catheter cleared by the FDA and available for sale. We are working to develop and test a product for the near future.