Urinary retention is the inability of an individual to urinate despite having a full bladder, with its consequent increase in volume, which is known as a bladder balloon.

This condition in times past was called iscuria.

If you have any of the following symptoms, see your doctor:

  • Pain at the level of the hypogastrium.
  • Absence of urination for several hours
  • Confusion, state of agitation.
  • Difficulty starting to urinate
  • Difficulty emptying the bladder completely
  • Weak urine flow or dribbling
  • Loss of small amounts of urine during the day
  • Inability to feel when the bladder is full

Chronic urinary retention:

  • Pelvic heaviness
  • Pollakiuria
  • Dysuria
  • Reduced urine stream
  • Feeling of poor bladder emptying

complications

The most frequent of the complications is urinary infection: cystitis first and then pyelonephritis. When chronic, retention causes bladder distension with detrusor atony, detrusor hypertrophy, or bladder diverticula formation.

Urinary retention could cause a reflux of urine towards the kidneys, which would cause hydronephrosis.

Prostatic causes in men

Urethral causes

  • Calculus or blood thrombus in the urethra
  • A tumor
  • Bladder hypoactivity
  • Phimosis
  • Posterior urethral valve
  • Traumatic urethral stricture
  • Extrinsic urethral compression: fecaloma, pelvic tumor

neurological causes

Sphincter problem of neurological origin:

  • Paraplegia
  • Cauda equina syndrome
  • Plaque sclerosis

 

Fountain: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/informacion-de-la-salud/enfermedades-urologicas/retencion-urinaria/sintomas-causas