Catheters may benefit from company's surface coating

. The Swedish company Carmeda Inc. (San Antonio, TX; 210/692-9908) reports that central venous catheters benefit from an application of Carmeda's proprietary heparin coating. The company cites a recently published paper that describes the results of a study for which Carmeda's BioActive Surface was applied to catheters. The study was designed to compare coated polyurethane catheters to uncoated ones. After 30 days, according to Carmeda, nine of nine coated catheters were patent, i.e., open for infusion and aspiration, while two of eight uncoated catheters were similarly patent. The company adds that, although not statistically significant, the researchers observed three positive blood cultures in the uncoated catheter group. None was observed in the coated catheter group. The study also reports pathological findings comprising "inflammatory activity" that was "more extensive and generally more involved in the specimens from rats with uncoated catheters." The paper, titled "Effect of Covalently Bound Heparin Coating on Patency and Biocompatibility of Long-Term Indwelling Catheters in the Rat Jugular Vein," was published in the June 2002 issue of Comparative Medicine.