ABSTRACT
Sterile intermittent catheterization was used in spinal cord injury patients who had indwelling catheters. This study included 17 men who had indwelling catheters for from 6 months to 5 years, an average of 22 months. Incidence of achieving catheter-free state was 12 cases among 17 cases (70.6%) and the mean period of intermittent catheterization of successful trials was 31 days. Among successful 12 patients follow-up studies up to 1 year, 9 patients (53.0%) were complete catheter-free state and 3 patients (17.6%) needed alternative intermittent catheterization. For the period of 1 year follow-up studies, there were not been any urologic complications except 2 cases of acute pyelonephritis and some trivial urinary tract infections. As these results, sterile intermittent catheterization was the useful method for management of neurologic bladder due to spinal cord injury and eliminating indwelling catheter.