Managing urine retention among children in Kumasi

Purpose To describe our experience in the management of children with urine retention at the Konfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi Methods From 1 st April to 30 th November, 2012, data on children presenting with urine retention at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi was obtained. The data collected was entered, cleaned, validated and analyzed using SPSS 16.0 for Windows. Results Thirteen male children presented with urine retention during the study period. Their mean age was 5.9±5.1 (range1-14) years. The causes of urine retention were; posterior urethral valves 9(69.2%), neurological disorder 2(15.4%) and one each of phimosis and bladder calculus. Conclusion Posterior urethral valve was the main cause of urine retention among children who presented to urologist in Kumasi. Immediate relief of urine retention was varied requiring the use of urethral catheterization, suprapubic cystostomy, or vesicostomy. Definitive management was varied and tailored to the underlying cause.