File:Catheter_dissasembled.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
catheter
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In medicine, a catheter ( ) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Catheters are manufactured for specific applications, such as cardiovascular, urological, gastrointestinal, neurovascular and ophthalmic procedures. The process of inserting a catheter is called catheterization.
Key facts
- Medical equipment.name
- Catheter
- Medical equipment.image
- Catheter dissasembled.jpg
- Medical equipment.caption
- Catheter disassembled
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
252,213 papers- Foley Catheter Management: A Review.JAMA surgery · 2025
- Surfactant therapy via thin catheter in preterm infants with or at risk of respiratory distress syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
- Urinary catheter-associated infections.Infectious disease clinics of North America · 2012
- Peritoneal dialysis catheter design and function and implications for the clinical setting.Expert review of medical devices · 2024
- Presternal peritoneal catheter.Advances in renal replacement therapy · 2002
via PubMed
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Uses
- History
- Ancient inventors
- Modern
- Materials
- Urinary catheters
- Catheters used in interventional procedures
- Interventional procedures
- Diagnostic catheters
- Balloon catheters
- Dialysis catheters
- Adverse effects
- See also
- References
- External links
In medicine, a catheter ( ) is a thin tube made from medical grade materials serving a broad range of functions. Catheters are medical devices that can be inserted in the body to treat diseases or perform a surgical procedure. Catheters are manufactured for specific applications, such as cardiovascular, urological, gastrointestinal, neurovascular and ophthalmic procedures. The process of inserting a catheter is called catheterization.
In most uses, a catheter is a thin, flexible tube (soft catheter) though catheters are available in varying levels of stiffness depending on the application. A catheter left inside the body, either temporarily or permanently, may be referred to as an "indwelling catheter" (for example, a peripherally inserted central catheter). A permanently inserted catheter may be referred to as a "permcath" (originally a trademark).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “catheter” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.