Effects of retention catheterization on urinary irritation symptoms in patients received general anesthesia unilateral knee arthroplasty

Objective To explore the effects of retention catheterization on urinary irritation symptoms in patients received general anesthesia unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods Totally 95 patients scheduled to unilateral primary TKA were randomized into two groups: the non-indwelling urinary catheter (NIC) group and the indwelling urinary catheter (IC) group. In IC group (n=48), catheter was removed within 24 hours. All patients were under the monitoring for urinary retention, urinary irritation, urinary tract infections and comfort scale. Results There were 3 cases of urinary retention and no cases of urinary irritation in the NIC group, while there was 1 case of urinary retention and 5 cases of urinary irritation. There was no significant difference between IC group and NIC group in urinary retention and urinary tract infections (P>0.05). No urinary tract infection cases in two groups. The score of sedative degree of patients in the NIC group was (3.89±0.31), and was (4.06±0.24) in the IC group (t=-2.941, P<0.05). Conclusions The risk of urinary irritation was higher in IC group than in NIC group when received total anesthesia in TKA. Indwelling urinary catheter is not routinely needed in TKA, non-indwelling urinary catheter can contribute to increasing the comfort of surgery. Key words: Total knee arthroplasty; General anesthesia; Indwelling urinary catheter; Urinary irritation; Urinary retention