The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Efficacy and safety of urinary catheters with silver alloy coating in patients with spinal cord injury: a multicentric pragmatic randomized controlled trial. The ESCALE trial.
Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) who carry indwelling urinary catheters have an increased risk of urinary tract infection (UTI). Antiseptic silver alloy-coated (SAC) silicone urinary catheters prove to be a promising intervention to reduce UTIs; however, current evidence cannot be extrapolated to patients with SCI. ⋯ The results of this study do not support the routine use of indwelling antiseptic SAC silicone urinary catheters in patients with SCI. However, UTIs associated to long-term urinary catheter use remain a challenge and further investigations are still needed.