A New Trocar Designed for the Insertion of a Foley Catheter

The use of a Foley catheter in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax has been well established. It has many advantages over the straight French catheter in that, first, the inflated bag aids in the sealing of the opening of the parietal pleura around the catheter and may diminish or eliminate subcutaneous emphysema; second, by drawing the balloon up against the parietal pleura the appropriate position of the tip of the catheter is assured, and, third, it is difficult to dislodge postoperatively unless the balloon is deflated. Previously, the Foley catheter was inserted by grasping the tip with a fine hemostat and by thrusting it through a stab wound. This method works well in children, because the intercostal spaces are narrow and their chest walls are relatively thin. In adults, however, difficulty may be encountered in thrusting the hemostat through a stab wound because of the thickness of the subcutaneous fat