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Γενική Χημικών GCP > Incontinence & Retention > Diseases and symptoms > Urinary retention
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Urinary retention

Urinary retention is the condition in which the patient cannot urinate, while having a strong desire.It usually occurs in men and the causes can be prostatic hyperplasia, some inflammation of the prostate or some stricture in the urethra. It can exist in two forms, acute and chronic urinary retention.

During acute obstruction there is an inability to empty the bladder which is perfect – complete. In chronic obstruction the urine remains inside the bladder and after urination, the emptying of the bladder is not completed and the urinary obstruction is characterized as incomplete. A characteristic element of chronic and incomplete urinary retention is the remaining amount of urine, the residue or residual according to foreign terminology.

DISEASES

Diseases that affect urination and create retention.

  • Acute urinary retention can occur with or without a trigger.
  • The following may act as triggering factors:
  • Surgical procedures with general or regional anesthesia,
  • Prostate hypertrophy.
  • Bladder neck or urethral obstruction.
  • Urethral injuries.
  • Nervous system disease.
  • Acute prostatitis.
  • The administration of sympathomimetics,
    Anticholinergic drugs,
  • UTIs,
  • Alcohol consumption and excessive fluid consumption.

This separation in terms of etiology is of clinical importance, as it has been found that acute urinary retention without a trigger leads to surgery in 75% of patients, while the corresponding percentage when the retention is triggered by a trigger drops to 26%.

The diagnosis is easy and is based on the following clinical signs:

  • Unbearable urge to urinate.
  • Severe pain in the lower stomach.
  • Cyst hard, swollen on palpation.

TREATMENT

Acute urinary retention is an urgent urological problem that requires immediate intervention. Several questions regarding its initial management need further investigation and analysis, such as what is the appropriate way to empty the bladder, what is the utility of medication, what is the appropriate duration of catheterization, and what is the most appropriate therapeutic strategy after that .

Treatment is by catheterization of the bladder (simple emptying or permanent drainage of the bladder).

In acute obstruction, the amount of urine in the bladder is usually 500–700 ml, and a catheterization of the bladder is sufficient to relieve the patient.

When the insertion of the urinary catheter is not possible (e.g. due to strictures) then a suprapubic catheterization of the bladder by a specialist urologist is required.