Clinical Case Report
Pragmatic and alternative use of a pigtail pleural drainage catheter as a suprapubic urinary catheter in the retrieval setting
AUTHORS
John Floridis1,2,3 DipPHRM, Medical Retrieval Consultant * 
Matthew Hooper1,4,5 PGDipPM, Senior Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Consultant, Intensivist and Emergency Physician
AFFILIATIONS
1 MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval, South Australian Ambulance Service, Adelaide Airport, SA 5950, Australia
2 Country Health, SA, Australia
3 College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
4 Calvary Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
5 School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia
ACCEPTED: 19 November 2025
Early Abstract:
A gentleman in his 50s was retrieved from a rural hospital following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. He required a urinary catheter due to bladder distension and long retrieval time. It was not possible to insert a urinary catheter via the urethral route. Bladder decompression was achieved with a pigtail pleural drainage catheter carried in the kit of the retrieval team, with no complication. This approach offers a pragmatic technique in a limited-resource setting, where access to formal suprapubic catheter kits or associated personnel may not be available.
Keywords: pigtail catheter, retrieval, suprapubic catheterisation.