Urinary retention after elective cholecystectomy

Background: There are few reports about urinary retention rate after electi ve cholecystectomy. We designed a prospective study to assess the problem. Methods. A total of 121 female and 19 male patients were included in the st udy with a prospective study protocol. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was per formed in 107 patients and open cholecystectomy in 33 patients. Results: Neither gender nor age affected rate. Postoperative micturition di fficulty developed in 10 patients. Of these patients, 9 could void with hel ping measures, and only 1 needed catheterization. Only 1 patient who underw ent laparoscopic surgery required catheterization (0.7%). The open approach caused a higher incidence of postoperative micturition difficulty than did the laparoscopic approach (15.2% versus 4.7%; P = 0.04). Only large amount s of perioperative fluid administration and meperidine use had statisticall y significant effects on micturition problems. Conclusions: Urinary retention is a rare complication after elective cholec ystectomy. Helping measures are very effective and should be tried before i nserting a urethral catheter. (C) 2001 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights res erved.