Postoperative infections due to bladder catheters after anterior colporrhaphy: a prospective, randomized three-arm study.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Different forms of urinary drainage are applied after anterior colporrhaphy. Suprapubic urinary catheter (SUC) and indwelling urinary catheter (IUC) for 2 to 96 h are preferred. If there is no difference in symptomatic urinary tract infection (SUTI) or complications between IUCs for 96 and 24 h, the latter will be considered sufficient. If IUCs have no higher rate of infections or complications compared to SUC for 96 h, the former could be considered sufficient.

METHODS

It was a three-arm prospective, randomized study including 257 patients. The three arms were: IUCs for 24 h, IUCs for 96 h, and SUCs for 96 h.

RESULTS

We found no significant difference in SUTIs between all three groups. Although the SUC arm showed no SUTIs, a significant higher rate of complications was seen.

CONCLUSION

The optimal bladder catheter after anterior colporrhaphy was, in our trial, the IUC for 24 h.