An in-vitro study in the determination of the permeability of foley catheter to ciprofloxacin

OBJECTIVE: To examine the ability of an antimicrobial agent Ciprofloxacin to diffuse through a Foley catheter retention balloon.METHODS: The Utraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) Spectophotometer (UV-1700 PharmaSpec) was utilized to detect the diffusion of the analyte (Ciprofloxacin) through end parameters such as peak absorbance and corresponding wavelengths.RESULTS: On UV-Vis spectophotometer, the control sample of sterile water was analyzed and found to have the lowest peak absorbance value of only 0.003 at a wavelength of 343 nm. The peak absorbance values of subsequent samples, taken from the same environment (sterile water), since submersion of the catheter balloon, on day-3, day-8, day-15 had increasing peak absorbance values on their corresponding wavelengths.CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the samples of sterile water from the outside environment of the submerged catheter yielded progressively increasing peak absorbance values on the succeeding days of submersion. Thereby, In lieu of this principle, one can infr the diffusion of the analyte throgh the catheter membrane, as reflected by the summary of peak absorbance value.

Five year biochemical recurrence-free rate following permanent prostate brachytherapy in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer

OBJECTIVE: This Study was designed to determine the five year biochemical progression free rate of patients with clinically localized prostate cancer stratified to low, intermediate and high risks groups who underwent permanent prostate brachytheraphy.METHODS: Thirty six patients with a mean age of 67 years diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer were treated with Iodine-125 permanent prostate brachytherapy from November 2001 to December 2003. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) failure was defined as having more than +2 increase of serum PSA from the nadir, with PSA nadir set at 0.4 ng/ml. The biochemical recurrence-free rate for the overall and the stratified groups were then calculated.RESULTS: Twelve patients were lost to follow up leaving twenty-four subjects in the study. The prescribe minimum dose was 145 grays. Median follow-up was 62 months. The over-all 5 year biochemical recurrence-free rate was 58%. Satisfying these patients into low, intermediate, and high group yielded a progression free rate of 80%, 42%, and 5%, respectively.CONCLUSION: Permanent prostate branchytheraphy is an effective treatment for patients with clinically localized prostate cancers. This reported 5-year biochemical recurrence-free rate at East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) is comparable with that reported by other centers.