An improved system of bladder drainage

We report the successful use of a modified No. 8 infant feeding tube for postoperative bladder drainage in 100 gynaecological patients after surgery In previous years, problems arising from the use of trans-urethral postoperative catheter drainage led to the use of various types of suprapubic catheter drainage after gynaecological surgery However, this method of catheter drainage still carries the risk of complications, and many surgeons have preferred to persist with trans-urethral bladder drainage. Several authors have described the postoperative use of a small diameter transurethral feeding tube so as to enable the patient to void around the tube, thus avoiding the risks of repeated reinsertion of a catheter if there is delay in reestablishment of normal voiding. The simplicity of this method and its low cost encouraged us to carry out a trial of the method and we have introduced some modifications to improve the technique. Our experience of the method and the positive comments from nursing staff and patients have led us to adopt it for most of our postoperative gynaecological patients and we believe it deserves wider use.