Abstract: Objective: To analyze the incidence of urinary tract infection and intra operative urinary bladder injury in women undergoing Cesarean section with or without indwelling urethral catheterization.
Study design: This prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on 220 women who had undergone cesarean section, divided into two groups of 110 each. In group A, 110 participants underwent cesarean section without urethral catheterization and in group B another 110 participants underwent indwelling urethral catheterization on the operation table just prior to cesarean section with the catheter kept in-situ postoperatively for 24 hours. Urinary tract infection and intra-operative urinary bladder injury were the primary outcome measures while duration of hospital stay, early ambulation and postpartum haemorrhage were the secondary outcomes noted.
Results: With no intraoperative bladder injury in the study, a total of 7.27% and 18.18% women had evidence of urinary infection after 72 hours in group A and B respectively (p< 0.001). A significant difference was also observed for total duration of hospital stay (3.92 vs 4.59 days, p<0.001) and the time taken to first ambulate after surgery (9.80 vs 11.63 hours, p<0.001) in the two groups.
Conclusion: Urinary bladder catheterization at cesarean section increases the risk of urinary tract infection but not that of surgical injury.
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