UROLOGIC EMERGENCIES

Every general practitioner has to deal with urologic emergencies. The most frequent illnesses are urinary retention, acute scrotum, priapism , macrohematuria, nephritic colic, obstructive pyelonephritis and pyon ephrosis. Whereas urinary retention, as well as acute ureteric stone c olic must generally be treated by the practitioner, the urologist must often be consulted in case of an acute scrotum or for priapism. Testi cular torsion is one situation, where surgical treatment needs to be p erformed within 6 hours. Of utmost importance is his timely assistance with the obstructive pyelonephritis and pyonephrosis. These are initi ally often not recognized, especially because the first ultrasound exa mination of the intrarenal pyelon may not show a dilatation of the col lecting system despite obstruction. If the adequate treatment with dra inage and antibiotics is applied too late, this can result in serious and potentially lethal consequences.