Does antimicrobial coating and impregnation of urinary catheters prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection? A review of clinical and preclinical studies.

Introduction: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is one of the most common nosocomial infections in hospitals, accounting for 36% of all health care-associated infections. Areas covered: We aimed to address the potential impact of antimicrobial coating of catheter materials for the prevention of CAUTI and to analyze the progress made in this field. We conducted literature searches in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases, and found 578 articles. Data from 60 articles in either the preclinical or clinical stage were analyzed in this expert review. Expert opinion: The literature review revealed many promising methods for preventing CAUTI. Recent studies have suggested the combination of silver-based products and antibiotics, owing to their synergistic effect, to help address the problem of antibiotic resistance. Other coating materials that have been tested include nitric oxide, chlorhexidine, antimicrobial peptides, enzymes, and bacteriophages. Because of heterogeneity among studies, it is difficult to reliably comment on the clinical efficacy of different coating materials. Future research should focus on double-blind randomized clinical trials for evaluating the role of these potential coating agents.

Expert review of medical devices. 2019 Sep 06 [Epub]

Aneela Majeed, Fnu Sagar, Azka Latif, Hamza Hassan, Ahmad Iftikhar, Rabih O Darouiche, Mayar Al Mohajer

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Stanford University , Stanford , CA , USA., Department of Medicine, University of Arizona , Tucson , AZ , USA., Department of Medicine, Creighton University , Omaha , NE , USA., Department of Medicine, Rochester General Hospital , Rochester , NY , USA., Section of Infectious Diseases, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center Baylor College of Medicine , Houston , TX , USA., Section of Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine , Houston , TX , USA.