Is it necessary to catheterize before caesarian section

ABSTRACT

To compare the intra- and postoperative complications with or without urethral catheterization in caesarian sections in terms of accidental cystotomy, urinary retention and urinary tract infection. Comparative Study. This study was conducted at Fatima Bai Hospital for one and half year period from June 2007 to December 2008. One hundred and twenty consecutive patients who underwent caesarian section were enrolled and randomly assigned into Group A [with catheterization] and Group B [without catheterization]. Main outcome measures were accidental bladder injury preoperatively [i.e. accidental cystotomy], urinary retention and urinary tract infection [>10 leucocytes on]. Urine Detailed Report. The SPSS version 11 was used to analyze data. Student t-test and chi-square test was used where appropriate. The significance level was set at p value < 0.05. Total 60 patients with Mean+SD age of 31.45 +/- 8.38 years included in group A while 60 patients with Mean+SD age of 29.83+8.53 years were included in group B. Accidental cystotomy was not noticed in both groups. Urinary catheterization when carried out preoperatively, had significantly higher rates of urinary tract infection [28.3%] as compared to women in whom preoperative catheterization was not performed [11.7%; p=0.022]. Same trend was observed in terms of urinary retention in both groups [p=0.047]. Practice of routine catheterization prior to Cesarean section needs to be reviewed skeptically as it is likely to increase the risk of urinary tract infections and retention in women postoperatively