Urological Emergencies at Kara Teaching Hospital (Togo): Epidemiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Profile

Abstract

Background: The urology department of the teaching hospital of Kara is the second urology department in Togo, after that of the teaching hospital Sylvanus Olympio, in Lomé the capital. It is a very young service, created less than 5 years ago. Urological emergencies were previously managed by general surgeons, for lack of urologists. The influx of patients with urological pathologies has increased with the arrival of urologists. The update on urological emergencies having been made in Lomé, we therefore wanted to take stock of urological emergencies at the teaching hospital of Kara. Objective: To describe the epidemiological, clinical, and therapeutic aspects of urological emergencies received at the teaching hospital of Kara. Patients and Methods: This was a descriptive study with retrospective data collection. The study took place in the urology department, and in the surgical emergency department of the teaching hospital of Kara, over a period of 18 months, from January 2021 to June 2022. The on-call medical team consisted of the intern in on-call medicine, and an on-call urologist, whom the intern called upon when he received a urological emergency. Pediatric urological emergencies were managed by the pediatric surgeon and were not considered in our study. The operating room register, the surgical emergency consultation register, the urology department consultation register, and the records of patients hospitalized in the urology department were used for data collection. The following parameters were studied: age, sex, type of urological emergency, and therapeutic management; epi info 7 software was used for data processing. Results: The average age of the patients was 52.5 ± 19.6 years with extremes ranging from 16 years to 102 years. Note that 57.7% of the patients were over 50 years old. The sex ratio was 8.9. Urinary retention was the most common urological emergency in 47.7% (52) of cases; follow-up of infectious pathologies in 30.2% (33) of cases. Among the patients who had been seen for urinary retention, 84.6% (44) of the cases had presented with acute urinary retention. Urethral catheterization was the type of care most received by patients, in 30.2% (33) of cases; follow-up of medical treatment in 27.5% (30) of cases. The most common etiology of urinary retention was prostate tumours, in 71.1% (37) of cases, followed by urethral stricture in 15.3% (8) of cases. We also found in our series, traumatic emergencies in 10% of cases; these were traumatic urethral injuries, traumatic injuries of external genitalia, traumatic injury of bladder, and traumatic injury of kidney in respectively: 4.5% (5); 2.7% (3); 1.8% (2); and 0.9% (1) of cases. Torsion of the spermatic cord was found in 2.7% (3) of cases. Conclusion: Urine retention is the most common urological emergency at Kara University Hospital. They are most often found in elderly males. Urethral catheterization was the most common type of care.