Do prostatic infarction, prostatic inflammation and prostate morphology play a role in acute urinary retention?

Objective: To investigate whether there is a role of prostatic infarction, prostatic inflammation and prostate morphology in acute urinary retention (AUR) etiology.

Methods: Ninety-eight consecutive male patients who were admitted to our clinic with either AUR or lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) were involved in the study. Patient age ranged from 43 to 88 years (median age 70). Group 1 consisted of 53 (54%) patients with AUR, and Group 2 consisted of 45 (46%) patients with LUTS. In Group 1 and Group 2, 58.4% (n:31) and 62.2% (n:28) of the patients underwent transurethral prostate resection, 41.6% (n:22) and 37.8% (n:17) of the patients underwent suprapubic transvesical prostatectomy, respectively. Each patient was asked about the factors: smoking habits, taking previous general anesthesia and preexisting cardiovascular disease such as hypertention and atherosclerotic coronary vascular disease which may lead to AUR via prostatic infarct. Prostatic infarction, prostatic inflammation and prostatic morphology were examined in the patients' specimen.

Results: Mean age, median serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and prostatic inflammation ratio were significantly higher in Group 1. There were not significant differences between the groups regarding prostate volume, prostatic infarction ratio and a type of prostatic morphology. In the present study, except for taking previous general anesthesia and preexisting cardiovascular disease, only prostatic inflammation was found important contributory factor on AUR. AUR risk was 3.03 times higher in the patients with prostatic inflammation (95%CI 1.28-7.15) (p = 0.01).

Conclusions: No significant effect of prostatic infarction was found on occurrence of AUR which was more frequent in elderly patients. Prostatic inflammation may have an important risk factor in AUR etiology. Additionally, serum PSA levels were higher in AUR group. No association was found between a type of prostatic morphology and AUR.