Foley catheter balloon failure?

Just got my first cath in the mail. Starting to think I should have gotten a 14, not a 16. (that things scary looking! Definatly going to go slow.)

I was wondering about the failure rate with the balloons. The precautions I know are to use sterile saline in case of a break, don't over fill, make sure you get out as much as you put in when you take it out.

Questions remaining are:

How often does failure happen?

Is it usually correctable by just cutting the valve off or does it take a trip to the doctors?

If the catheter is manufactured by a reputable supplier the "failure" rate is almost nil. The primary failure would be the balloon leaking or bursting. Provided the balloon is not overfilled (there are 5cc and 30cc as the most common balloon sizes) there should never be any type of failure.

Always consider a catheter as a single use device - one time and one time only. You cannot sterilize it properly so don't even try. Buy more than one at a time and you won't be tempted to ever re-use one. And do make sure you know what you are doing as far as sterile procedure, if the people you get your catheters from don't have insertion trays with all the extra supplies find one who does.

You should never cut the valve off BTW. As long as it is intact and undamaged, a syringe will fit properly allowing full aspiration of the balloon. If the valve is removed it is nearly impossible to attach a syringe to the remaining tubing.

Catheter play is all fun and games until someone gets a serious UTI. Play safe!

Saline should not be used to fill the balloon of a catheter. Ideally sterile water, not saline should be used. The reason is that crystallization in the balloon or valve can cause failure to deflate. Also, even though the typical balloon volume shows as 5cc or 5 ml, that is a minimum inflation volume. Again, ideally the actual inflation volume of a 5ml balloon is 10 ml. The reason for this is that it allows the balloon to inflate symmetrically and therefore the tip of the catheter will remain straight in the bladder and not bend in the bladder and poke the bladder wall resulting in bladder spasms.

Most importantly of all, maintain sterility of everything you touch. Don't put on sterile gloves, touch something that is not sterile, then touch the catheter that you will insert. There is a lot of misinformation on the web from people that really don't know what they're doing. Even some nurses have sloppy technique. Be careful because bladder infections are no fun.

Thanks for the info guys.

I've never had a catheter fail, however prior to insertion, it is recommended to inflate the catheter's balloon with sterile water and deflate to ensure its working properly. Make sure you monitor how much sterile water you insert in the catheter and how much you remove. If you have difficulty removing the sterile water from the catheter's balloon, you can cut the end of the catheter where the inflation port is. If that still doesn't help, seek medical help. According to my girlfriend who is a nurse, if the balloon does not deflate, the only course is to percutaneously puncture the balloon.

[quote author=smiley1099 link=topic=14295.msg148091#msg148091 date=1227768517]

I've never had a catheter fail, however prior to insertion, it is recommended to inflate the catheter's balloon with sterile water and deflate to ensure its working properly. Make sure you monitor how much sterile water you insert in the catheter and how much you remove. If you have difficulty removing the sterile water from the catheter's balloon, you can cut the end of the catheter where the inflation port is. If that still doesn't help, seek medical help. According to my girlfriend who is a nurse, if the balloon does not deflate, the only course is to percutaneously puncture the balloon.

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For those of you that don't know what that means, the balloon is popped percutaneously by sticking a needle through the skin of your pubic area and into the bladder causing the balloon to pop. It isn't very pleasant and probably is NOT one of your med-fet fantasies. Removing a foley with a torn balloon is also not particulary smooth coming out and the urethra will be sore for a while. Also, if you are unlucky enough for the balloon to fragment when it pops and a piece gets left behind in the bladder, you could be in for severe infections of unknown origin until a cystoscopy finds a piece of the balloon floating around your bladder.

DON'T OVERFILL THE BALLOON.

I had a balloon slightly rupture once when I was cathed...sorta a pinhole... the saline in the balloon just mixed with my urine, and then the foley started to slowly leave my urethra... i could tell it was on the move, and I certainly felt the little "pop". After it slid out, I called the nurse, and she was concerned about it, but then noticed the pinhole, and announced she would have to RE-CATH ME... yummm.

I didnt have a balloon failure, but i had a catheter put in that was too small. Once my bladder was full the fluid just started leaking out. I tried to hold it in, but it was impossible to hold 2 liters in my own. I eventually gave up and let it out. how humiliating!!

Sitting here cathed as I type 😁

I started with a 16fr which did tend to leak a little. I am at 22 fr now, but plan to try larger to see how they go.

I have noticed that after a few time insertion have become easier once you understand which muscles to relax.

You tube has some real good medical instruction videos about how to insert for both men and women.

The amount to fill the balloon is written on the fill tube collar, not the package. Underinflating also made my bladder floor sore from the balloon trying to work down the urethra.

Careful not to put on too much lube. Just a layer on the first 2-3 inches. That is you need and minimizes the burn when you pee after removal.

Sterilize the entrance area. Clean your hands with disinfectant soap. Rinse with a little alcohol, or even better wear gloves. Use clean room protocols you learned in chemistry class. (more common sense than anything)

Make sure the cath is not plugged duringinsertion so you don't introduce air into the bladder. Plus you really want to know when you are past the bladder opening before you inflate.

I refuse to reuse mine. They have been cheap enough so far to just throw them away rather than risk an infection.

I do keep my bag and extension tube but clean them with Clorox. Most of the time I plug it up. I have a PA that leaks sometimes when I try to pee and stand so this is nice to pull the tube out to stand and pee again. 😮

I once had one that would come out, so I pushed it back in to the bladder, re filled and emptied the ballone,all went well the secend time, i thing the ballone got kinked in deflation

I was using one of my catheters on wednesday night it was one of my 18fr foley caths when I got done using it I withdrew the saline inside of the balloon and was ready to pull it out when to my surprise I thought all the water didn't come out so I was starting to freak out a little bit so I took a pair of scissors and cut the valve off of it and to my relive just a small amount of water come out so I give the catheter pull and it started to come out and after it come out I was real relieved. So now everytime I go to use one of my caths I test out the balloon and vavle first to see if they are going to work.

You likely failed to note the volume used for inflation, and that the same volume was returned during deflation. That is the only way to safely and correctly ensure that the balloon is fully deflated before withdrawal.

You should never remove the balloon inflation valve or tamper with it in any way. As long as the Luer fitting is intact, a syringe will mate properly allowing a high vacuum to be applied to fully aspirate the contents of the balloon. When you cut off the valve it may be very difficult to maintain a positive connection since the internal diameter of the inflation line is much thinner than the tip of a syringe. If the balloon won't deflate under vacuum it certainly won't by gravity, so your best chances of success remain with keeping the valve intact and applying suction with an empty syringe.

It should not be necessary to test the valve or balloon before insertion if you are using a quality brand. All the major manufacturers subject their catheters to numerous qualty control tests at each step of production. The catheter should have already been tested so doing so yourself may needlessly risk contamination of the sterile item.

I love to cath myself but not for the purpose of emptying my bladder for the purpose of filling it up and painfully retaining it then going for a long bumpy ride I use latex because it causes me to swell up.

I love to cath myself but not for the purpose of emptying my bladder for the purpose of filling it up and painfully retaining it then going for a long bumpy ride I use latex because it causes me to swell up.

Do you mean you use latex because you are allergic to it? You said it causes you to swell up.

Painful fulness in the bladder can cause reflux into the kidneys and cause infection and other problems that can be severe.

It sounds like you need to read up on things before you do things to yourself and especially others.

100+ foley catheters used to date and I have never had a balloon failure. I never test the valve/balloon before inserting. I typically use Bard siliconized foley catheters from AllegroMedical.com

I didnt have a balloon failure, but i had a catheter put in that was too small. Once my bladder was full the fluid just started leaking out. I tried to hold it in, but it was impossible to hold 2 liters in my own. I eventually gave up and let it out. how humiliating!!

2 litres? I'm surprised you didn't have a bladder burst, let alone a balloon burst.

The average capacity of the human bladder is 0.6 to 0.7 litres - don't ever try to go beyond this, especially with a syringe or elevated container where unreasonable pressures can occur. And never with the drainage lumen plugged

Back in the late 80's I had a cath that the balloon wouldn't deflate even after using suction from the syringe and cutting the valve off. Needless to say, I immediately made an appointment with a urologist. Forgetting about the embarrassment, it was not a pleasant experience.

He used an ultrasound/ prostate biopsy needle through my rectum, located the balloon and popped it. Then a very expensive antibiotic. Obviously this experience didn't "cure" me of my love for caths, but I always inflate and deflate the balloon while the cath is still in the sterile wrapper.

At work in the hospital i met a lady perhaps ten years ago that during collum surgery had a foley inserted that later refused to deflate properly. We tryed just about everything from sucking with syringe,inject a liquid to pop the ballon and finally cutting the valve. I recall that the lady went panic and that we had to put her to sleep. I went off the shift before the doctor got it out so i have no idea how it ended,probably they went inside the bladder through the catheter with a needle and popped the ballon. I hope one doesnt have to find oneself in that situation ever especially because being a male,a female have very short urethra and would be easyier to pop the ballon if it get stucked.

You cut the valve off and wait for the saline to drain -- if you wish to make sure its fully drained you can still use a syrgine to suck out any excess by making a fairly airtight seal to the end of the sever'd tube -- ive heard of people using non sterile water mixed it iodine for years with no failures so i tend to think if it does fail it will only be from a defective cath or misuse HOWEVER if the balloon fails while inside of you MAKE SURE you get all the rubber peices out, if you dont know if you did goto the ER -- and like the other users have said -- test the caths before you put it in if you are worried about valve/balloon failre (ive cath'd 24/7 for medical need for years now and have not had 1 failure except for 1 possible pinhole in 1 cath which resulted in some minor discomfort as it became partially uninflated which caused my bladder to spasm a little

I've noticed the silicone catheters are less apt to 'deflate on their own',when removing the saline, I need to work to get the balloon deflated, where a latex catheter deflates almost by itself, any other experiences with this?

If I had a stuck balloon, I'd probably just try to leave it in for a few weeks & HOPE AND PRAY it deflated on its own, the other options just suck!

It is quite rare for a catheter to not deflate assuming a few key rules. You should never use saline to inflate the balloon. The longer the catheter remains in place, the more likely for the saline to form crystals which can block the inflation channel. Sterile water is the only thing that should be use to inflate a foley balloon. Also, and this is commonly not appreciated even by medical professionals, you should not have to pull back on the plunger to deflate a foley balloon. Doing so can collapse the inflation channel, plus especially with 100% silicone catheters, this will almost always cause the balloon to form a circular "cuff" around the balloon because the silicone has more of a memory than latex and does not fully shrink as the water is removed. This can not only cause discomfort as the catheter is removed, it can make if almost impossible or very painful for those that have the catheter inserted suprapubically (through the abdominal wall). Per every catheter manufacturer (and you can verify this if you want), the syringe should be put into the inflation port and the water should drain on its own. When you get back almost all the water that was put into the balloon, then you can pull back a bit on the plunger to remove the rest of the water. This also has the effect of possibly reducing the amount of cuffing on a silicone balloon. Never cut the inflation port on your own. There are a lot of things that doctors can do to remove a difficult catheter and cutting off the port removes a number of options. Also, in the vast majority of cases, the port itself is not the source of the problem; the problem is somewhere along the channel.

I had a balloon that deflated but then remained bunched up on the tubing. Not knowing this it was painful removing and caused a little bleeding . From my experience I always now wait a few minutes before removing the catheter. Alwsys make sure they are with in the exp. date. and now going to switch to silicone.

After using several hundred catheters without a single balloon failure, I inflate with plain old air. Saline water, as noted, can be a problem. Where do you find sterile water? A PITA, i’m not referring to bread.

Wife has a SP foley that gets changed out monthly by a nurse. Once, I accidently cut the cath while changing her and it immediately deflated the balloon and the folly popped out. It was a Sunday, so off to the ER. Fortunately, even after the long wait in the ER, the track stayed open, and they were able to rethread it without calling in a doc to reopen it.

@sse4me you can use distilled water. Distilled is sterile as long as it's sealed.

I had a lot of balloon failures so ordered this from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJLZSD7C?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

have not had one since keeps dirt and all other contaminates