Trick of the Trade: Alternative to Word catheter for Bartholin abscess

Bartholin abscesses are challenging to manage, partly because of Word catheter insertion. Sometimes, the space is not large enough (unable to fit the catheter) or too large (catheter falls out). How else can you “pack” the abscess space?

Trick of the Trade

Jacobi rubber ring

This trick nicely piggy-backs with last week’s Trick of the Trade on incision and loop drainage. Published in the American Journal of EM, Gennis et al present their successes with their 8-French rubber tube, threaded with suture material. Kushnir et al discuss their using butterfly tubing instead of a rubber tube to create a loop. Anyone have experience with these techniques (or a version of)?

Images from AJEM article

Thanks to Dr. Marianne Haughey (Jacobi Medical Center) for telling me about this.

Reference

1. Kushnir VA, Mosquera C. Novel technique for management of Bartholin gland cysts and abscesses. J Emerg Med. 2009 May;36(4):388-90. Pubmed .
2. Gennis P, Li SF, Provataris J, Shahabuddin S, Schachtel A, Lee E, Bobby P. Jacobi ring catheter treatment of Bartholin’s abscesses. Am J Emerg Med. 2005 May;23(3):414-5. Pubmed .