Role of Self-Catheterization in Prostatism

Abstract

Lower urinary tract obstruction due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), carcinoma of the prostate, and/or vesical neck contracture can give rise to an impaired urinary stream associated with urinary tract infection, pollakiuria, urgency, and varying degrees of urinary retention. Most of the symptoms and signs can be relieved or ameliorated by correcting the obstruction, usually with an appropriate operative procedure. On occasion the prostatectomy cannot be carried out because the patient’s condition is too precarious to tolerate an operation or the individual wishes to avoid “surgery” and seeks a nonoperative remedy. In many instances removal of the urethral obstruction does not improve the patient’s situation because the detrusor has been rendered atonic and incompetent by longstanding bladder overdistension and urinary retention.