Post-operative urinary retention: Review of literature

摘要

Postoperative urinary retention(POUR) is one of the postoperative complications which is often underestimated and often gets missed and causes lot of discomfort to the patient. POUR is essentially the inability to void despite a full bladder in the postoperative period. The reported incidence varies for the wide range of 5%-70%. Multiple factors and etiology have been reported for occurrence of POUR and these depend on the type of anaesthesia, type and duration of surgery,underlying comorbidities, and drugs used in perioperative period. Untreated POUR can lead to significant morbidities such as prolongation of the hospital stay, urinary tract infection, detrusor muscle dysfunction, delirium, cardiac arrhythmias etc. This has led to an increasing focus on early detection of POUR.This review of literature aims at understanding the normal physiology of micturition, POUR and its predisposing factors, complications, diagnosis and management with special emphasis on the role of ultrasound in POUR.