Urethral catheter

Claim 1

A urethral catheter comprising an elongated body portion having drainage openings near one end thereof and a drainage tube extension at its opposite end, an inflatable element on said body portion in spaced relation to said drainage openings, a coacting inflation means for said inflatable element on the body portion near said opposite end, a porous thin flexible outer membrane sleeve on and surrounding the body portion over a substantial portion of its length and spaced from said inflatable element and having opposite end portions joined to said body portion, said thin membrane sleeve tending to collapse against the exterior of the body portion due to confining pressure when the catheter is inserted into a body cavity, a multiplicity of spaced relatively small uniform height and substantially equally sized fixed projections on the exterior of the body portion and lying beneath the membrane sleeve and serving to maintain the latter spaced from the exterior of the body portion over substantially the full area of the sleeve and preventing collapse of the membrane sleeve inwardly against the body portion, and fluid conduit means on the body portion near said opposite end and communicating with the interior of the membrane sleeve, whereby fluids may be introduced into the membrane sleeve for treatment of the urethral canal while the catheter is implanted therein.