The outcome of trial off catheter after acute retention of urine.

The aim of this study was to analyse the outcome of trial off catheter for patients who were admitted to the Department of Urology, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) for acute retention of urine (ARU) due to benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). From 1 June to 15 October 1997, 150 patients were admitted for ARU. Seventy-one patients were excluded from our study due to our exclusion criteria such as chronic retention, patients with bladder stones and cancer of the prostate. Our results showed that 58% (n = 46) had a successful trial off catheter. The risk factors for failure were: high residual urine (more than 800 ml) and high prostatic specific antigen (PSA) value (10.9 versus 21.5). All patients with normal PSA value (< 4 ng/l) had successful trial off catheters. There was no difference between trial off catheter 24 hours versus 48 hours after admission.