Pre-Operative Urodynamic Assessment Has Poor Predictive Value for Developing Post-Operative Urinary Retention

Background: Post-operative urinary retention (POUR) following primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA) has a reported prevalence up to 35%. Risk factors for POUR have included surrogate markers such as the presence or absence of urologic disease. Pre-operative dynamic measurement with post-void residual volumes (PVR) has not been investigated as a tool for assessing POUR risk. Methods: All male TJA patients underwent an institutional pre-operative screen for POUR, including PVR measurements, patient-derived subjective urinary retention scores, and assessment of urologic disease. The prospectively collected data were retrospectively reviewed. Proportions were evaluated with the chi-squared test, while continuous variables were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. Receiver-operator characteristic curves were utilized to determine the efficacy of using urodynamic variables as a predictor of developing POUR. Results: Two hundred fifty-two male patients were reviewed who had a mean age of 64.9 years and mean body mass index of 30.8 kg/m(2). The overall rate of POUR was 5.1%. Patient urinary retention scores were not associated with POUR. Elevated pre-operative PVR (>10 cc) alone and in combination with a history of urologic disease was significantly associated with POUR. However, both had low positive predictive values (10.5% and 18.2%), despite high negative predictive values (99.2% and 97.9%). Utilization of PVR resulted in moderate sensitivity (91.6%) and low specificity (72.1%) with an area under the curve of 0.69. Conclusion: Urodynamic measurements and patient urinary retention scores, as part of an institutional pre-operative screening protocol, have limited value in determining which patients are at increased risk of POUR. The utility of obtaining these measurements pre-operatively is questionable. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In TJA patients, elevated detrusor pressure and/or obstructive uropathy are associated with an increased risk of POUR. While PVR measurements have moderate sensitivity and specificity, their positive predictive values are low, making them one of the predictive indicators for POUR.