Prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections by intravesical administration of heparin: a pilot study

Abstract

Bladder instillations decreased the rate of urinary tract infection in this pilot study; this effect persisted into the post-treatment period. More research is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.

Intravesical instillations for the treatment of refractory recurrent urinary tract infections

“…22 Following 6 weekly treatments, 78% of women had a greater than 50% reduction in infections, going from 4.4 to 1.1 infections over a 6-month time period. 22 The average age of this cohort was 67 years with a BMI of 33.4. 22 There was no clinical or demographic criterion associated with success, although estrogen use (systemic and local) trended towards an improved response.…”

“…Ablove and colleagues evaluated the utility of heparin instillations for the treatment of refractory recurrent UTIs in 18 women. 22 Following 6 weekly treatments, 78% of women had a greater than 50% reduction in infections, going from 4.4 to 1.1 infections over a 6-month time period. 22 The average age of this cohort was 67 years with a BMI of 33.4.…”

“…22 There was no clinical or demographic criterion associated with success, although estrogen use (systemic and local) trended towards an improved response. 22 In our cohort, 46.2% of patients had one or more infections following treatment, while only 17.9% met criteria for recurrent UTIs. Patients were also more likely to be postmenopausal and overweight by BMI.…”

“…22 The average age of this cohort was 67 years with a BMI of 33.4. 22 There was no clinical or demographic criterion associated with success, although estrogen use (systemic and local) trended towards an improved response. 22 In our cohort, 46.2% of patients had one or more infections following treatment, while only 17.9% met criteria for recurrent UTIs.…”

Protein-crystal Interactions in Calcium Oxalate Kidney Stone Formation

“…hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate] are not potent enough to alter crystal shapes significantly [28,55]). Although heparin is not a common part of the urinary tract [31] (note: dextran sulfate tested here is not part of the physiology at all [47]), it might be possible that heparin enters the urinary tract under some circumstances (perhaps in the course of an ongoing therapy) and acts then as inhibitor of COM formation [31,56]. But this is still unclear.…”