Symptoms & Signs
The symptoms of bladder outlet obstruction may vary, but can include:
- Abdominal pain
- Continuous feeling of a full bladder
- Delayed onset of urination (urinary hesitancy)
- Frequent urination
- Inability to urinate (acute urinary retention)
- Pain on urination (dysuria)
- Slow urine flow
- Urinary tract infection
- Urine stream starts and stops (urinary intermittency)
Diagnosis & Tests
If bladder outlet obstruction is suspected, your health care provider will take a thorough history of your problems. During a physical exam, your provider may find one or more of the following possible causes:
- Abdominal mass
- Cystocele (women)
- Distended bladder
- Enlarged prostate (men)
Tests may include:
- Blood chemistries to reveal kidney damage
- Cystoscopy and retrograde urethrogram (x-ray to look for urethral narrowing)
- Ultrasound to locate the blockage of urine, and find out how well the bladder empties
- Urinalysis to look for blood or infection
- Urine culture to show an infection
- Uroflowmetry to determine how fast the urine flows out
- Urodynamic testing to see how much the urine flow is blocked and how well the bladder contracts
Bladder outlet obstruction : Overview, Causes, & Risk
Bladder outlet obstruction : Symptoms & Signs, Diagnosis & Tests
Bladder outlet obstruction : Treatment
Review Date : 11/30/2009
Reviewed By : David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Herbert Y. Lin, MD, PHD, Nephrologist, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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