Suprapubic catheterisation after spinal cord injury: a follow-up report

The spinal injury patients who were initially treated by suprapubic catheterisation and reported from this unit in 1976 have been reviewed. Fifteen had died by early 1982; only in two cases from renal causes. All but one of the 23 survivors seen has a normal blood urea, and 15 have normal intravenous pyelograms. Eight patients have abnormal IVPs; the abnormalities were insignificant in four, and have been treated in two. Two patients have unilateral nonfunctioning kidneys. These results suggest that no long term ill effects result from the technique. In view of its considerable administrative advantages suprapubic urinary drainage should become more widely used.