Introduction:

Acute urinary retention is the most common urological emergency in clinical settings, however, its management at the primary care level is challenging.

Objective:

Offer clinical recommendations based on recent medical literature, with clinical application for the management of acute urinary retention in adults in hospital settings where specialized support in urology is not permanently available.

Methods:

Scoping review of the literature, carried out between January and April of 2023, in Medline, Embase and Lilacs databases, including articles related to pharmacological interventions or techniques for the management of acute urinary retention in adults in English and Spanish, excluding articles of chronic urinary retention, pediatric and obstetric populations, orthopedic procedures or non-standardized strategies.

Results:

A total of 67 articles were obtained after searching the primary protocol, 43 studies met the inclusion criteria. Bladder decompression using an urethral catheter is the most widely used and recommended initial intervention worldwide, with evidence in favor of early catheter removal in the context of acute urinary retention. On the other hand, suprapubic catheterization is an alternative to the urethral catheter in specific settings and may offer several advantages.

Conclusion:

Under an appropriate technique by the primary care physician, transurethral catheterization allows solving the vast majority of cases. Those patients whose acute management with transurethral catheterization is contraindicated, has been unsuccessful or insufficient, require management by a specialist in urology.

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