trial without catheter

Last reviewed 01/2018

Trial without catheter is used to test whether a patient needs further management of their urinary problems, or whether they require a permanent indwelling urinary catheter.

The catheter is removed under antibiotic cover, and the patient placed on a fluid chart. Usually a day is enough to get an impression of how the patient will cope. At the end of this time, performance can be assessed on the basis of:

• comparison of fluid input and output
• examination of the abdomen - palpation and percussion for the bladder
• post-micturition ultrasound
• recatheterisation after micturition

The latter give a residual volume; the larger the volume, the greater the tendency to chronic retention.

Patients may have, particulary after urological surgery, several trials without catheter before the trial is successful. This is particularly true after long term catheterisation pre-operatively; the bladder may have become atonic, and may require re-training.