Indwelling urinary catheter assembled with lidocaine‐loaded polymeric strand for local sustained alleviation of bladder discomfort

Indwelling urinary catheters (IUCs) are used in clinical settings to assist detrusor contraction in hospitalized patients. However, an inserted IUC often causes catheter‐related bladder discomfort. To resolve this, we propose an IUC coupled with local, sustained release of an anesthetic drug, lidocaine. For this, a thin strand composed of poly (lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) and lidocaine was separately prepared as a drug delivery carrier, which was then wound around the surface of the IUC to produce the drug‐delivery IUC. Our results revealed that the drug‐delivery IUC could exert the pain‐relief effects for up to 7 days when placed in the bladder of living rats. Cystometrogram tests indicated that the drug‐delivery IUC could significantly relieve bladder discomfort compared with the IUC without lidocaine. Furthermore, the expression of pain‐related inflammatory markers, such as nerve growth factor, cyclooxygenase‐2, and interleukin‐6 in the biopsied bladder tissues was significantly lower when the drug‐delivery IUC was used. Therefore, we conclude that an IUC simply assembled with a drug‐loaded polymer strand can continuously release lidocaine to allow for the relief of bladder discomfort during the period of IUC insertion.