Introduction to Intermittent Self-Catheterisation
(ISC)

ISC is not a new technique - it has been around for many years

• Egyptians used reeds drained into urns
• Romans used lead pipes
• Victorians used silver and lead catheters
• Many Jewish men suffered from sexually transmitted diseases and carried what were known as "piss pipes" in the rim of their tail hats

ISC as we know it developed in the war years

• Patients suffering spinal injuries were surviving due to improved medical care, but many patients died afterwards due to renal failure caused by repeated urinary tract infections, which were a common complication of in-dwelling catheters

The clean technique

• The clean technique was developed by Lapides and his colleagues in the USA in the early 1970s
• Intermittent self-catheterisation (ISC) either by self or carer is a technique of passing a small catheter into the bladder at regular intervals to remove the urine when the patient is unable to void normally
• The catheter is then removed, leaving the patient catheter free between catheterisations

Advantages of ISC

• Patient retains independence
• Urinary tract infections reduced
• Patient is in control of own bladder
• Normal sexual relationships
• No incontinence - no smells
• Significant protection from upper tract reflux (avoiding kidney failure)
• No longer the need for a permanent in-dwelling catheter, therefore preventing problems such as bladder neck damage and erosion of the meatus