[Handling of Foley catheter regarding urinary retention syndrome following vaginal surgery]

The post surgical urinary retention syndrome is a frequent problem after vaginal surgery. In many medical centers it is used a transurethral vesical drainage for three to five days with or without vesical reeducation to prevent it. In order to determine the importance of the time of drainage and vesical reeducation in the presence of this syndrome 106 patients submitted to vaginal surgery were studied at random and prospectively, in our service. Patients were distributed in three groups: the first one, with 37 women in which the drainage was withdrawn at 24 hours; in the second group it was retired at 72 hours and in the third group the drainage was removed at 72 hours with previous vesical reeducation. The results show that those patients who were less time under vesical drainage presented a minor frequency of urinary retention after surgery (24.3% vs 30.7% and 43.7%).