BOO; Lower urinary tract obstruction; Prostatism

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)
• Waking up at night to urinate (nocturia)

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 look for signs of kidney damage
• Cystoscopy and retrograde urethrogram (x-ray) to look for narrowing of the urethra
• Ultrasound to locate the blockage of urineand find out how well the bladder empties
• Urinalysis to look for blood or signs of infection in the urine
• Urine culture to check for an infection
• Uroflowmetry to determine how fast urine flows out of the body
• Urodynamic testing to see how much the urine flow is blocked and how well the bladder contracts

Images

Kidney anatomy

Kidney - blood and urine flow

Female urinary tract

Male urinary tract

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Bladder outlet obstruction Overview

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Bladder outlet obstruction Treatment

Review Date: 06/17/2010
Reviewed By: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Medical Director, MEDEX Northwest Division of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Washington, School of Medicine; Scott Miller, MD, Urologist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)