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Background: The provision of urological appliances for patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) is essential. Hitherto existing standard guidelines for the estimation of monthly material requirements are based solely on estimates., Objective: The goal of this work was to define the objective and subsequently subjective requirements for urological appliances on a scientifically validated basis., Materials and Methods: Data concerning bladder management and daily consumption of urological appliances for patients with NLUTD were collected through a standardized survey at six different centers in Germany during the period of October to December 2014 and statistically evaluated., Results: In all, 767 patient records were analyzed: 543 men and 221 woman (N/A = 3). The daily disposable catheter consumption of 577 patients who exclusively used intermittent catheterization was 5.13. Patients who used other means of bladder emptying (n = 31) in addition to catheterization consumed on average 3.17 catheters. The margin of deviation was larger for children. Of the 608 patients with intermittent catheterization, 94 (15.5 %) required additional paddings as absorbent aids (on average 2.29 paddings per day), 34 patients (5.6 %) additionally used pants (2.55 per day) and 46 patients (7.6 %) utilized condom catheters (3.81 per day) between catheterization. Among all surveyed patients, 126 (16.4 %) used paddings (5.03 per day) and 51 patients (6.6 %) pants (3.03 per day). Of all male respondents 82 (15.1 %) used condom catheters (2.80 urinary sheaths per day)., Conclusion: Applying twice the standard deviation of the mean as a measure of assessing the objective requirement of urological appliances and aids for adult patients with NLUTD allows the following daily thresholds to be defined: 1-9 disposable catheters, 0-7 urinary sheaths, 1-9 paddings and 0-7 pants. These thresholds can serve as a basis for estimating the subjective need. They allow for a scientifically validated benchmark for an economically feasible and patient-tailored supply with urological aids and appliances. Individually required appliances and aids have to be recognized. Verifiable quality standards need to be developed.

In addition to the risk of patient infections during endoscopy, such as trichosporon and hepatitis C, the use of reusable forceps also carries the risk of misdiagnosis caused by residues of contaminated tissue from previous patients. Disposable forceps can eliminate these risks. However, the use of disposable materials raises the question of the associated costs. Following the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute concerning the reuse of medical instruments, this paper presents an analysis of the costs associated with reusable forceps during endoscopic procedures. This analysis allows for a direct comparison between disposable and reusable tools.

Recycling and resterilisation of throwaway articles--in radiology especially of catheters used in angiography--has become widespread to save costs. Although extensive experimental work in this field is still lacking, criteria have been set up as guidelines to ensure safe recycling. These are subdivided into three parts: Cleaning--sterilisation--material testing. Experimental studies have been reported on sterilisation only proving the inadequacy of two ethylene oxide methods conventionally used in hospitals.