A hollow flexible tube for insertion into a body cavity, duct, or vessel to allow the passage of fluids or distend a passageway. Its uses include the drainage of urine from the bladder through the urethra or insertion through a blood vessel into the heart for diagnostic purposes.
ETYMOLOGY:
Late Latin, from Greek kathetr, from kathenai, kathe-, to send down : kat-, kata-, cata- + henai, to send; see y- in Appendix I.
k
th
-t
r
r, from kath
enai, kathe-, to send down : kat-, kata-, cata- + h
