catheter

Benjamin Franklin (1706– 1790)

Term: Catheter

Origin: Anc Greek

καθίημι/cathiemi(=to let down, thrust in)

> κατά/cata(=down) + ίημι/eemi(=send)

Coined

Catheters were used by both ancient Egyptians and Greeks. The modern form of catheter was invented in Europe and brought to the US where Benjamin Franklin (1706– 1790), politician, scientist and inventor who dipinvented the flexible urinary catheter. In 1844 the French physiologist Claude Bernard inserted a glass catheter into the heart of a horse as a kind of heart catheterizasion.

Definition

a thin flexible tube that is inserted into a part of the body as a cavity, duct, or vessel to inject or drain away fluid or to keep a passage open eg urinary catheters are used to drain the bladder.