The Foley bag catheter, because of its simplicity, is an extremely valuable instrument for urologie purposes. However, the catheter has its trouble-making capacities. In addition to becoming obstructed, the balloon sometimes becomes exasperatingly difficult to deflate. The obstructive causes of bag retention are angulation, powder from gloves and other equipment, lint or cotton, blood clot, hemostatic crushing, or an imperfection (rubber flap over opening into the balloon or a bleb in the inflating tube) occurring in manufacture. To prevent such mishaps, one should test the catheter before using, be certain catheters are not powdered and have not been stored with powdered goods, and instruct nurses to use fresh sterile water to inflate the balloon.
There are various means of deflating this catheter if difficulties should arise. It may be necessary to overinflate the bag to the point of rupture. The 5 cc. bag frequently holds as much as 85 to