Air to Bladder

Personally I have not heard of or witnessed air being used to unclog/improve patency of a bladder catheter. I have had patients who were on continuous bladder irrigations (with fluids) to prevent clots from forming and flush any that did form through to prevent blockage.

I am by no means an expert in urology. This may be a new technique I just wasn't aware of.

Even with CBI we still get pts needing intermittent manual irrigation and I've only used water to try and flush out the excess clots. I wouldn't think injecting a small amount of air would be a big deal but I haven't seen it done.

I have never heard of that either. If you run into that resident again, could you ask his/her rationale? Say something like, "I noticed you flushed air into the bladder to remove a clot from a foley the other day. I was just hoping you could teach me a little more about the use of injecting air instead of water/saline since that was the first time I have seen a foley unclogged that way and I am always interested in learning new things."

Some of them are really sensitive to their toes being stepped on... but I would be curious in hearing the answer myself.

I know. I haven't seen it also. I'll ask him if I see him again. But is that harmful or dangerous to the patient? I think she was discharged yesterday. No complaints whatsoever. Immediately after the doctor flushed it, I saw urine with air in between come out towards the bag. It almost gave me a heart attack actually when I saw the resident go about it.

As long as it is not harmful, I can sleep good tonight.

(Personal experience and not EBP expressed here)

I had a long term in dwelling catheter for over a year and would find that at times the foley would get "stuck" to the bladder wall and would be irritating/painful. I always kept a cath tipped syringe with me to flush if necessary, but barring a clean source of water sometimes I would "flush" a small amount of air (a few cc can make a HUGE difference!) to push the mucus or bladder wall off of the catheter. I would preferably use NS or sterile water for flushing, but if air is all you have atm I don't think a small amount will do any harm. It's not like the air can get into the bloodstream and cause an embolus or something. However, I also would not use a large amount of air for fear of increasing the bladder pressure and having air/urine back flow to the kidneys. I think in the clinical setting that fluids are the best option.

I wonder about giving the patient an air embolus. I have read about getting one lady partslly but I don't know about getting one by pushing air into the bladder.

So I've been reading on this. It seems there are procedures like air cystoscopy and imaging studies that inject air into the bladder to visualize tumors. They even inject room air. The process is called air insufflation of the bladder. This was probably his basis right? I haven't seen him yet and his probably on vacation. Are you familiar with those procedures??