Is urination necessary prior to discharge in outpatient anorectal surgery?: Acute Urinary Retention in Anorectal Ambulatory Surgery (AURAAS) trial

Abstract

The objective of this study is to establish if postoperative urination is necessary prior to discharge in elective outpatient anorectal surgery in benign pathology. This is an experimental study of the randomized clinical trial type of a single center (Centro Médico Docente La Trinidad), in patients undergoing elective outpatient surgery by the coloproctology unit with benign anorectal pathology in the period between August 2021 and October 2022. A total of 39 patients who were randomly assigned into 2 groups, an experimental group made up of 20 patients and a control group made up of 19 patients, are included for the study. From the epidemiological point of view (age and sex), both study groups were comparable p=0.4. The global rate of acute urinary retention was 2.6% (n=1), which appeared in the control group, which did not represent statistical significance p=0.47. The median postoperative stay was shorter in the experimental group, obtaining a median of 130 minutes (120-160min) in contrast to the control group that experienced longer stays 220min (150-360min). This study managed to demonstrate that postoperative urination is not necessary for discharge in elective anorectal surgery for benign pathology, in selected patients using multimodal analgesia, perioperative fluid restriction and general anesthesia, obtaining a low rate of postoperative acute urinary retention.