Urology is an area of medicine that focuses on the health conditions of the urinary tract as well as the male reproductive organs. Urological procedures include the treatment of urinary tract infections, prostate conditions, and cancers of the urinary tract and reproductive organs. These procedures have multiple complications that drastically increase recovery time of patients. One of the most common complications is urinary tract infection (UTI), which accounts for more than 30% of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
But thanks to modern high-tech medical devices, urology related procedures have become safer and more effective for patients. Devices used in the field of urology include catheters, guidewires, stents, and endoscopic devices. One reason these devices have become safer and more effective is from the use of hydrophilic medical device coatings. These special coatings help to improve the performance of urology related medical devices while making them safer. As a result, they help ensure better patient outcomes.
In this article, we will explore the use of hydrophilic coatings in urology. We look at how they help provide more consistent, uniform, and long-lasting lubrication during urological procedures as well as reduce infections. If you are involved in biomedical engineering you will want to make sure you read to the end.
What are Hydrophilic Coatings & Why are They Used on Medical Devices?
The term “hydro” means water and “philic” means affinity or love for. In turn, hydrophilic coatings are surface treatments that make surfaces “water-loving.” They are commonly used on medical devices, especially to modify materials that are naturally hydrophobic. The coatings effectively convert the surfaces and make them hydrophilic.
They are applied to medical devices, such as catheters and endoscopic devices, that come in contact with bodily tissues and fluids. When the hydrophilic coatings are exposed to liquids they form a thin, highly lubricious layer on the surface of the device. This lubricious, hydrophilic layer has an extremely low coefficient of friction and high wettability. This allows the devices to easily move through difficult, anatomical pathways easier and more accurately.
Their main purpose is to reduce friction between the medical device and the body. This helps reduce trauma and patient discomfort. When applied to medical devices such as urinary catheters, they ensure smooth insertion and removal.
In addition to friction reduction, they can be formulated to provide other functionalities. These include thromboresistance, having antimicrobial properties that help reduce infections, and more.
There are plenty of reasons to use hydrophilic coatings in urology related medical devices. We discuss some of the biggest benefits of these coatings below.
Want to learn more about these coatings in the medical space? Make sure to read our in-depth guide on Hydrophilic Coatings for Medical Devices: Uses and Benefits.
Benefits of Hydrophilic Coatings in Urology
Hydrophilic medical coatings are useful for both traditional and minimally invasive urological procedures. Here are the top 5 benefits of hydrophilic coatings for medical devices used in urological surgeries.
1. Reduced Friction
Hydrophilic coatings are “slippery-when-wet” surface modifications. Such polymer coatings absorb and bind water to the surface of the medical device when exposed to bodily fluids. These properties drastically reduce the friction between the device and biological tissues. This allows urological devices, such as catheters or guidewires to glide smoothly with reduced urethral trauma.
Lubricity is the key property to achieving smooth movement and navigation of the device. Hydrophilic coatings form a thin, lubricious layer with an extremely low coefficient of friction on the surface of urological catheters, guidewires, and endoscopes.
Learn more about lubricious coatings, including their uses and benefits in medical devices.
2. Improved Patient Comfort
Reducing pain and ensuring patient comfort become critical when repeated catheterization is required. Hydrophilic coatings form a lubricious, hydrogel-like layer on the surface of urological devices. This layer ensures the device’s smooth and safe navigation through the urinary tract.
The slippery and water-attracting surface significantly reduces tissue irritation. It also plays a crucial role in enhancing the speed of patient recovery. That’s why many urologists use hydrophilic-coated medical devices to ensure smooth insertion and removal of devices.
3. Antimicrobial Properties
Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs) are common during and after urological surgery. According to the CDC, catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for more than 30% of HAIs across the United States. They are one of the leading causes of increased morbidity, enhanced healthcare costs, and extended hospital stays.
Hydrophilic coatings can be custom-formulated with antimicrobial properties. This drastically reduces the risk of healthcare-associated urinary tract infections.
For example, Hydromer™ Hydrophilic Antimicrobial Coatings prevent microbial adhesion. Our coatings can be applied to urinary catheters, guidewires, and endoscopes. They create a physical barrier that avoids bacterial colonization.
4. Biocompatibility
Urological devices must perform their intended purpose without harming the biological system. Hydrophilic coatings are non-toxic and non-carcinogenic and can coexist with living tissues.
As discussed earlier, inflammation and infections are common when external devices are inserted into the human body. Hydromer hydrophilic coatings ensure the body will not identify urological devices as foreign objects. This helps to prevent potential harm and toxicity.
Hydromer® has decades of experience manufacturing biocompatible hydrophilic coatings that meet stringent medical standards. Our coatings ensure a better interaction between medical device surfaces and human tissues.
5. Enhanced Precision
Advanced hydrophilic coatings provide enhanced precision. They drastically reduce the need for excessive mechanical force. They also make it easier to position urological devices during medical procedures. As such, they ensure smooth and safe navigation through the urinary tract and anatomical pathways. Improved precision also reduces accidental tissue damage. This has a huge impact on procedural success and patient satisfaction.
Urology Devices that Can be Coated with Hydrophilic Coatings
Hydrophilic coatings ensure smooth insertion, removal, and navigation of medical devices during urological procedures. As such, they are useful for several devices used in the field.
Here’s a list of devices that can be coated to improve the performance and safety of these procedures.
1. Catheters
Hydrophilic urinary catheters significantly reduce urethral trauma, which enhances patient comfort and outcomes. Such devices are commonly used during urological surgeries to drain urine from the bladder.
Hydrophilic coatings enhance the device’s surface lubricity. This makes them particularly useful when repeated catheterization is required. This is because they help avoid urethral bleeding, trauma, pain, and inflammation.
Hydrophilic coatings also help reduce catheter-related infections. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are the most common complications related to these procedures. Infections are caused by E. coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Serratia, and Candida. Advanced hydrophilic coatings can be custom-formulated with antimicrobial properties to prevent the sticking and growth of these organisms on catheters.
Here is a quick list of urological catheters that can be coated with hydrophilic formulations:
- Intermittent catheters (e.g., Nelaton, Coude-tip)
- Foley catheters (indwelling)
- Suprapubic catheters
- Ureteral access catheters
- External (condom) catheters
- Female Length Catheters
- Pediatric urinary catheters
- Closed System Catheters
- Pigtail Catheters
Learn more about the use and benefits of hydrophilic catheter coatings.
2. Guidewires
Hydrophilic guidewire coatings are applied to urological guidewires. The coatings help improve navigation through the urinary tract and prevent trauma to delicate tissues. They allow urologists to access the bladder, ureters, or renal pelvis. The main purpose of the coatings is to ensure smooth catheter placement and stent delivery.
In addition to the standard guidewires used during urological procedures, angled-tip, and nitinol guidewires are also coated with hydrophilic coatings. The coatings help improve their performance as well as their safety.
Learn more about the use and benefits of Hydrophilic guidewire coatings.
3. Stents
Urological stents are crucial in maintaining ureteral patency after surgery. They can become encrusted and infected over time. Hydrophilic coatings attract and bind water to the urinary stent’s outer surface. Their main goal is to enhance the lubricity of the stent’s outer diameter (OD) to minimize encrustation. In addition, they create a physical barrier to prevent microorganisms from sticking to the surface of the stents.
Here is a quick list of different urological stents that are treated with hydrophilic coatings:
- Ureteral stents
- Prostatic stents (e.g., temporary stents for BPH)
- Single-Pigtail Stents
- Multi-Length Stents
- Nephrostomy tube stents
- Metallic or polymeric urinary stents
It should also be noted that Hydromer™ Advanced Hydrophilic Coatings have drug-eluting capabilities. Our coatings are particularly useful for reducing patient discomfort caused by stent placement. They can release antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, or anti-encrustation agents to address complications such as infections, inflammation, and encrustation.
4. Dilators
A ureteral dilator widens the urethra or ureter. It is mostly used before urological procedures such as cystoscopy or ureteroscopy to ensure easy access to the instruments used during these procedures.
Hydrophilic coatings are applied to urethral dilators to ensure they glide smoothly. The coatings form hydrogels with an extremely low coefficient of friction on the dilator’s surface. Such hydrophilic dilators are mostly used for urethral and nephrostomy tract dilation.
5. Sheaths
Hydrophilic coatings ensure smooth and safe insertion and removal of urological sheaths during endoscopic procedures. Such devices aim to allow easy passage for the endoscopes and urological instruments into the urinary tract.
The main goal of these coated sheaths is to protect the ureter during repeated instrument exchanges.
Learn more about the use and benefits of Hydrophilic Coatings for Sheaths.
6. Endoscopes
Smooth insertion and navigation of endoscopes during urological procedures are critical for patient comfort and safety. Endoscopes can damage urinary tract tissues and significantly increase healthcare costs.
Coating endoscopes with hydrophilic coatings can significantly improve the surface properties of the devices. It also ensures smooth navigation through the urethra or ureter.
Hydrophilic coatings can improve the performance of the following types of urological endoscopes:
- Ureteroscopes
- Cystoscopes
- Resectoscopes
Learn more about the use and benefits of Hydrophilic coatings for endoscopes.
7. Retrieval Devices
Retrieval devices extract stones, foreign bodies, or other obstructions from the urinary tract. They are used during kidney stone-related procedures. Their wire shafts are coated with hydrophilic coatings to ensure smooth and safe navigation during these surgeries.
Hydromer® Hydrophilic Coatings for Urological Devices
Hydrophilic coatings are integral to urological medical devices inserted into the human body. Hydromer®, Inc. is a US-based hydrophilic coatings manufacturer. We have 40+ years of experience manufacturing and supplying innovative lubricious hydrophilic coatings for medical devices. Hydromer medical coatings offer excellent lubricity, antimicrobial properties, and drug-eluting capabilities that are useful for a wide range of urological devices.
We understand the importance of safe and effective urinary catheters, guidewires, and endoscopes in urological treatments. That’s why our company committed to using only the highest quality ingredients to manufacture best-in-class, custom medical coatings with the following properties:
- Highly lubricious
- Wettability
- Antimicrobial
- Drug-eluting capabilities
- Biocompatibility
- Low particulate
- Enhanced adhesion
- Thromboresistance to reduce blood clotting
In addition, all of our hydrophilic medical coatings are customizable. This means we can formulate a coating to meet your exact product requirements. We offer both thermal cure and UV cure coatings.
Get in Touch
Our team includes highly qualified Ph.D. chemists, scientists, engineers, and regulatory experts. We are able to help you regardless of what stage of the product development process you are in. But what sets us apart from our competitors is the wide range of support services we offer our medical device manufacturing partners.
Here is a quick list of support services offered by Hydromer:
- Research and Development (R&D) services
- Contract coating services
- World-wide supply of high-quality, medical coatings
- Specialized Analytical Testing
- Custom Machine Building
- Turn-key Operations
- Technology Transfer Services
- Technical consulting and support services
Contact our team of experts today to learn more about our services.
