French catheter scale

The French scale, French gauge or Charrière system is commonly used to measure the size of a catheter. It is most often abbreviated as Fr, but can often be seen abbreviated as Fg, FR or F. It may also be abbreviated as CH or Ch (for Charrière, its inventor). However, simply gauge, G or GA generally refers to Birmingham gauge.^[1]

The Charrière is measured by the ''outer'' diameter, and is defined as 1 Fr = 1/3 mm, and thus 1 mm = 3 Fr; therefore the diameter of a round catheter in millimetres can be determined by dividing the French size by 3.^[2] The French units roughly correspond to the outer circumference of the catheter (see table below).

For example, if the French size is 9, the diameter is 9/3 = 3.0; mm. It is seen that the French unit is fully redundant with the metric system but introduces potential for rounding errors. This metrication problem is further complicated by the mixed use of metric and imperial units in medical professions using catheters.

An increasing French size corresponds to a larger external diameter. This is contrary to Birmingham gauge, where an increasing gauge corresponds to a smaller diameter needle.

The French size is a measure of the outer diameter of a catheter (not internal drainage channel, or inner diameter). So, for example, if a two-way catheter of 20 Fr is compared to a 20 Fr three-way catheter, they both have the same external diameter but the two-way catheter will have a larger drainage channel than the three-way. Three-way catheters accommodate an extra channel for irrigation within a similar external diameter.

The French gauge was devised by Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière, a 19th-century Parisian maker of surgical instruments, who defined the "diameter in mm times 3" relationship.^[3]

Size correspondence

French catheter scale

French gauge	Circumference (mm)	Outer diameter
		(mm)	(inches)
2	2.09	0.667	0.026
3	3.14	1	0.039
4	4.19	1.333	0.053
5	5.24	1.667	0.066
6	6.28	2	0.079
7	7.33	2.333	0.092
8	8.38	2.667	0.105
9	9.42	3	0.118
10	10.47	3.333	0.131
11	11.52	3.667	0.144
12	12.57	4	0.158
13	13.61	4.333	0.170
14	14.66	4.667	0.184
15	15.71	5	0.197
16	16.76	5.333	0.210
17	17.81	5.667	0.223
18	18.85	6	0.236
19	19.90	6.333	0.249
20	20.94	6.667	0.263
22	23.04	7.333	0.288
24	25.13	8	0.315
26	27.23	8.667	0.341
28	29.32	9.333	0.367
30	31.42	10	0.393
32	33.51	10.667	0.419
34	35.60	11.333	0.445

See also

• American wire gauge
• Birmingham gauge

References

1. Poll, J. S. (1999). "The story of the gauge". Anaesthesia. 54 (6): 575–581. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2044.1999.00895.x. ISSN 0003-2409. PMID 10403873. S2CID 41519791.
2. "1 French". Wolfram|Alpha. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
3. Iserson, Kenneth V. (1987). "J.-F.-B. Charrière: The man behind the "French" gauge". Journal of Emergency Medicine. 5 (6): 545–8. doi:10.1016/0736-4679(87)90218-6. PMID 3323304.