Female Urethral Injuries Associated with Pelvic Fractures

Injury to female urethra due to pelvic fracture is less common than that for similar injuries in males (0-6% vs 10% in males), likely as the result of greater mobility, relatively protected and shorter length of the urethra in females. Inability to void, urinary incontinence through vagina, haematuria or blood at the introitus in the setting of pelvic trauma should make one suspicious of an associated urethral injury [1]. Most female urethral injuries are longitudinal lacerations in females with less severe mechanisms of injury [2]. Such lacerations can get easily overlooked as catheterization is easily possible in such patients. However Venn et al. [3] and Podesta et al. [4] noted that avulsion/distraction of urethra was more commonly associated with major trauma and severe injuries. Such avulsion injuries are less likely to be overlooked, due to inability to catheterize and higher chance for concomitant vaginal or rectal laceration and blood per vault. We report our experience with female urethral injury associated with pelvic fracture.