Pharmacological measures to prevent post-operative urinary retention; a prospective randomized study

Abstract

One hundred patients undergoing vaginal surgery for genital prolapse were randomly allocated to one of four post-operative management groups which included a control group and three groups receiving differently acting pharmacological agents (distigmine bromide, phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride, and prostaglandin F 2α) variously reported as being useful in preventing urinary retention after vaginal surgery. The incidence of an elevated residual volume in the control group was 10.7%. All the pharmacological agents appeared to increase by about three times the incidence of an elevated residual urinary volume with statistical significance ( P < 0.05) being noted for distigmine bromide and PGF 2α. While this increased incidence occurred irrespective of the type of surgery in the case of distigmine bromide and phenoxybenzamine · HCl, the increase was most marked ( P < 0.01) when PGF 2α was used after anterior repair surgery.