Urological Emergencies; Spectrum of Cases Seen Over a Three Year Period in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in West Africa

Background: Urological emergencies are genitourinary conditions requiring immediate intervention to reduce morbidity and prevent mortality. The intervention may be medical or surgical. It constitutes a significant part of emergency presentations in our centre, however, there is a paucity of data on the pattern of these emergencies in our sub-region.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and pattern of urological emergencies in our centre aiming at bridging the gap in the knowledge of the epidemiology of urological emergencies in this sub-region to achieve efficient use of available scarce resources.

Methodology: The study was a three-year retrospective evaluation of urological patients presenting at the Accident and Emergency Department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. The accident and emergency department admission register and emergency theatre register were retrieved, and data was extracted, coded into Excel, and analyzed using SPSS Version 26.

Results: A total of eighteen thousand, one hundred and ninety-four emergencies were admitted over the study period of which Five hundred and ninety-two (592) patients had urological conditions. This gave a prevalence of urological emergencies was 3.25%. The ages ranged from 4 years to 100 years with a mean age of 56.0±20.18. Five hundred and forty-six (92.2%) were male while 46 (7.8%) were female. Urinary retention (281, 47.47%) was the commonest emergency followed by trauma (71, 10.64%), haematuria (99, 8.78%), and testicular torsion 33 (5.57%). Bladder injury was the commonest traumatic injury. Urethral catheterization 252 (42.57%) was the commonest emergency intervention while suprapubic cystostomy 60 (34.29%) was the commonest operative procedure.

Conclusion: The prevalence of urological emergencies in our Centre is 3.25% with urinary retention being the commonest emergency.