Urological Emergencies: Epidemiological Profile and Limitations of Health Care in Rural Guinea

Abstract

The aim of our study was to report the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and the therapeutic limits of these emergencies in a regional urology unit in Guinea. This was a prospective descriptive study lasting six (6) months from 1 January to 30 June 2021. The proportion of urological emergencies in relation to urological pathologies was 31% of cases, i.e. 104 patients out of 232. The average age of our patients was 43.81 years, with extremes of 1 and 90 years. These emergencies were dominated by bladder retention (75%; n=78), followed by urogenital trauma (7.69%; n=8) and hematuria (6.73%; n=7). The main diagnostic hypotheses for bladder ́urine retention were prostatic tumours (76.924%; n=60), urethral strictures (19.23%, n=15), and posterior urethral valves (3.84%; n=3). Infectious pathologies were dominated by gangrene of the external genitalia (2.88%, n=3). Emergency management of our patients was dominated by urethral catheterisation in 53.98% (n=61) followed by medical procedures sometimes associated with catheterisation and bladder irrigation (6.20%; n=7).