Obstruction of the urinary bladder neck is the most common genitourinary surgical lesion. In spite of this fact, it is the one condition for which patients more often consult the general practitioner or family physician than they do the urologist, the surgeon, or the gynecologist. Early medical literature abounds with articles describing various methods of relieving the distress in such cases, whether it be caused by a calculus, an enlarged prostate, or a new growth. Congenital abnormalities are probably the most common cause of urinary retention in infants and children, while in persons past middle life prostatic enlargement or neoplasms are to be suspected first. The diagnosis of urinary obstruction is accurate and the treatment is specific. Intelligent use and interpretation of cystoscopy, roentgenography, and physiologic chemistry against a background of history and physical findings make this possible. Disturbances in micturition may be caused by mechanical impediments at the vesical neck. These mech...