Catheters:
Brief
History
The earliest
precursor to the present day
Foley catheter is documented in 3000 B.C. It is believed that Egyptians
used metal pipes to perform bladder catheterizations. As early as 400
B.C.,
hollow reeds and pipes were used in cadavers to study the form and
function
of cardiac valves.
In 1844, Claude
Bernard inserted a mercury
thermometer into the carotid artery of a horse and advanced it through
the aortic valve into the left ventricle to measure blood temperature.
It is because of his work that the use of catheters became the method
of
standard for physiologists in the study of cardiovascular blood
flow.
Adolph Fick took
another major step in
the development of cardiac catheterization in 1870. His famous note on
the calculation of blood flow is the basis for today's cardiac
procedures.
Among the earliest
published descriptions
of human catheterization were done by Fritz Bleichroeder, E. Unger, and
W. Loeb in 1912. They were among the first to insert catheters into the
blood vessels without x-ray visualization. Interest in catheterization
was also stimulated with the advent of chemotherapy.
Early chemotherapy
required the injection of drugs directly into the central circulation.
Bleichroeder inserted catheters into dog arteries and assessed the
effects
after leaving them in place for several hours. He reported no
complications
or clots.
The Foley Catheter
came into existence in the 1930s. Frederick E. B. Foley began to
experiment
with different catheters of the time. He realized that urinary
catheters
would easily slip out of the bladder because there was no way to hold
them
in place.
Foley experimented
with different methods of securing the
catheter
until he came up with the idea of attaching a balloon-like device to
the
end of the catheter. The device would then be able to be placed and
then
inflated from the outside. By 1934, Foley catheters were on the market.
Other than in material, the Foley catheter remains relatively unchanged
in design today!
More
info on catheters... click here!
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