1985 Volume 76 Issue 2 Pages 197-203
The bladder plays the role of retaining the urine, but it also has the function of excreting the urine. Because of this latter function, it is difficult to achieve long-term retention of an intravesically-infused drug. Accordingly, the author's group considered the problem of how to prepare and deliver a drug which would provide a prolonged effect in the bladder, thus enabling topical chemotherapy of bladder cancers and prevention of their recurrence. This led to research and development work on the Intravesical Stick (IVS) and its insertion device.
The recently-developed IVS contains as its base agent a combination of Wintepsol H-15, E-85, Tween 80 and bleached beeswax. The IVS has a specific gravity of 0.988-0.995, and it floats in urine. For this reason, the IVS causes almost no obstruction of the flow of the urine being excreted. In addition, in vitro experiments indicated that the elution of the active ingredient (in this case, bleomycin) from the IVS could be detected up to 38.4 hours. This proves that this preparation is capable of providing a sufficiently prolonged effect.
Taking into consideration the anatomical curvature of the male urethra, an insertion device resembling a metal catheter was developed. The IVS is formed into a cylinder-like shape so that it fits inside the insertion device.
