[DrPMm]

My Dad is over 80 and had a heart attack While in hospital they inserted a tube into his bladder via his urethra in order to drain the urine while he remained incapacitated in bed. Now otherwise fully recovered he is stuck with this tube; whenever they remove it he suffers retention of urea and has to have it re-inserted within a few hours.

How can this problem be overcome? Is there a way to allow the relevant muscles to work properly, whether that means relaxing or contracting, respectively, and let out the urine?

[UroDoc]

You need to determine if it an obstructing prostate or a poorly functioning bladder or perhaps a combination of the two. Given your Dad's age I would suspect he has an obstructing prostate with some bladder dysfunction. If that is the case a drug called Flowmax might help relieve the obstruction along with a drug called urocholine to increase bladder function. If that did not help then a more aggressive approach with either minimal invasive techniques to open up the prostate cold be tried, given the recent heart attack a TURP would probable not be advisable, but that would be up to your Dad's doctors. A urodynamic test and cystoscopy may help in defining the problem. Lastly your dad could learn to pass a catheter himself intermittently to relieve the retention; most spinal cord injured patients do this daily to manage their bladders, good luck

[DrPMm]

Dear UroDoc,
Many thanks for your reply.
For sure, in recent years my Dad already had signs of a swollen prostate, such as having to get up often in the night, but prior to having the catheter he never suffered retention.
Antway, with gratitude, I will pass on the info to him.

[UroDoc]

sometimes placement of a catheter can tip a problematic voiding situation over the edge, good luck