Diagram showing the flow of CSF
and the gradual drug release

CODMAN® BACTISEAL® features

Maintaining the critical first month implant vigil with two, slow release antibiotics

Up to 20% of all shunt implants result in infection.^3-8 The majority become evident within the first 3-4 weeks.¹ The BACTISEAL® System diffuses a combination of .15% Clindamycin and .054% Rifampicin, reaching concentrations at the surface sufficient to prevent bacterial colonization while maintaining its effectiveness over that important first month – an especially vulnerable time.

Control catheter 2 Coagulase-negative staphylococci on the surface of the lumen of an untreated control catheter in the in vitro model.

BACTISEAL catheter2 Lumen surface of a BACTISEAL catheter following two 14-day challenges in the in vitro model. No live bacteria are observed.

Understanding a unique, precise and patented process

The BACTISEAL Antimicrobial Impregnated System is made possible by a proprietary manufacturing process and the controlled utilization of powerful antibiotics at low toxicity risk levels (less than a daily pediatric dose). Its genius lies in the unique manner in which the silicone matrix is “spread” during manufacture to allow the infusion of the antibiotics. This impregnation is accomplished very homogeneously as demonstrated by the fact that one of the antibiotics gives the BACTISEAL Catheter its unique and uniform orange color. References
1. R. Bayston, Hydrocephalus Shunt Infections, Chapman and Hall Medical, London, 1989, p. 23.
2. Codman in house testing reports, TR2213 and PVER99-133 Addendum.
3. Nelson, J.D. 1984. Pediatric Infectious Disease Williams & Wilkins Co.
4. Yogev, R. and Davis, A. T. 1980. Neurosurgical Shunt Infections. Child’s brain. 6:74-81.
5. Bayston, R. 1989. Hydrocephalus Shunt Infections. London, UK Chapman and Hall
6. Baird, .et al. 1999. Late Shunt Infections. Pediatric Neurosurgery. 31:269-273.
7. C. Mottolese et al., Zero rate of shunt infection in the first postoperative year in children-dream or reality?, Child’s Nev Syst 16:4, 210-2, Apr, 2000.
8. B.M. Borgberg et al, Risk of infection after cerebrospinal fluid shunt: an analysis of 884 first-time shunts, Acta Neurichir (wein) 136: 1-2, 107, 1995.
S.E. Davis et al., Does age or other factors influence the incidence of ventriculoperitoneal shunt infections?, Pediatr Neurogurg 30: 5, 253-7, May, 1999. Bactiseal, anti-microbial, antimicrobial, antibiotics, bacteria, bacterial, colonization, catheter, infection