Abstract

Postoperative urinary retention is a common complication that follows any surgical procedure. This study has been performed to measure the incidence of postoperative urinary retention in 577 general surgical patients. 111 patients (19.2%) experienced difficulty passing urine postoperatively. 85 of these 111 patients (76.5 %) voided after suprapubic warm water application or mobilization and 26 (23.5%) of them were catheterized. Total incidence of retention requiring catheterization was 4.5%. The incidence of difficulty in passing urine was 23.5% in males and 15.4% in females. The incidence was significantly higher in males (p<0.05). Difficulty in passing urine were highest in ventral herniorraphy (37.5 %) but the incidence of retention requiring catheterization was highest in median laparatomy (8.5%). 7 of the 88 patients (7.8 %) who had herniorraphy and 6 of 100 patients (6%) who had benign anorectal operations developed retention.