Urinary Emergencies Flashcards
What is Acute Urinary Retention and what is it often a complication of?
Inability to urinate
with increasing pain on peeing
Complication of BPH
What can precipitate urinary retention?
- non-prostate related surgery
- catheterisation
- urethral anaesthesia
- medication with sympathetic/anticholinergic effects (blocks ACh)
How is urinary retention treated when a patient is admitted?
catheterisation
Can also do a “Trial without a Catheter” in the same admission if:
- painful retention
- < 1 litre residue
- serum electrolytes normal
What can improve the chance of voiding in a trial without a catheter?
introduction of alpha blocker drugs beforehand
e.g. Alfuzosin, Tamsulosin
What is a Post-obstructive diuresis and why does it occur?
excessive passing of urine after removal of a
chronic bladder outflow obstruction
Why is excessive urine passed in post obstructive diuresis?
- retained urea, sodium and water
AND defect in concentrating ability of kidney
Why should urine output be monitored regularly in post-obstructive diuresis?
If urine output > 200ml/hr
Pt may require IV fluid and sodium replacement
What differential diagnosis should you always consider in acute loin pain?
Leaking AAA
What mediates the pain in a ureteric obstruction caused by a calculus?
prostaglandins released by ureter to say it is obstructed
What treatment can be given for renal stones which are causing acute loin pain?
- NSAID +/- opiate
- alpha-blocker (Tamsulosin) for small stones that are expected to pass
Under what size are most renal stones expected to pass?
<4mm
After what length of time will a stone require intervention if it has not been passed?
1 month
What type of scan is best to view renal calculi and is therefore the most diagnostic?
Non-contrast CT
What symptoms would indicate that the renal stone should be treated urgently?
- Pain unrelieved
- Pyrexia
- Persistent nausea/vomiting
- High-grade obstruction
How are renal stones removed urgently?
- ureteric stent to allow them to pass more easily
- stone fragmentation (to make them smaller)
- percutaneous nephrostomy for infected hydronephrosis
What can cause macroscopic or FRANK haematuria?
- Infection
- Stones
- Tumours
- BPH
- Polycystic kidneys
- Trauma
- Coagulation/platelet deficiencies
How can a clot be removed if it is the cause of frank haematuria?
3 way irrigating haematuria catheter
- stiffer than normal catheter
=> can withstand the suction which aims to remove the clot
What investigations can be used in frank haematuria?
CT urogram
cystoscopy
Who usually suffers from testicular torsion and what can predispose to this?
Most common at puberty
Can occur after trauma or athletic activity
Teen often woken from sleep in pain
What is the normal presenting complaint in testicular torsion?
- Sudden onset of pain
- sometimes previous episodes of self-limiting pain
- nausea/vomiting
- Referral of pain to lower abdomen
What is usually found on examination of a patient with testicular torsion?
- Testis high in scrotum
- Lie transversely
- absence of cremasteric reflex
What is the cremasteric reflex?
Stroking of the skin of the inner thigh causes the cremaster muscle to contract and pull the testicle up toward the inguinal canal on the same side
What complications of testicular torsion can make it difficult to visualise and obliterate landmarks?
Acute hydrocoele
oedema
What investigation can be used to visualise the blood supply to the testis believed to be affected?
Doppler USS
When treating testicular torsion, both sides require fixation, even if this has not occurred bilaterally. TRUE/FALSE?
TRUE
don’t want to risk it occurring on the opposite side
What is Bell Clapper Deformity?
Both testes lie transversely
=> predisposing the patient to torsion
What is Torsion of an appendage?
Torsion of an appendix on the testis
Appendages are common but have no function
Torsion of an appendage can still be very painful
Torsion of an appendage can present very similarly to torsion of the testes themselves. TRUE/FALSE?
TRUE
If appendage torsion is caught early, how may it present?
localised tenderness at upper pole
“blue dot” sign
How can a testicular and appendage torsion be differentiated?
Appendage torsion involves mobile testis and intact cremasteric reflex