📃 Paper Title: The role of alpha blockers prior to removal of urethral catheter for acute urinary retention in men
🧍 Author: Fisher
🕒 Year: 2014
📚 Journal: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
🌎 Country: UK
ㅤContext to the study:
Can you tell be about a study describing the role of alpha blockers in male catheter removal for acute retention?
ㅤ✅ Take-home message of study:
Alpha blockers can increase the chances of successful removal of a urinary catheter following presentation with acute urinary retention. Alpha blockers may also reduce the risk of further episodes of retention and have limited and comparable side effects to patients receiving a placebo (dummy) drug or no treatment.
ㅤ Systematic Review
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Study participants:
Participants
Adult men who needed to be catheterised transurethrally due to acute urinary retention.
Total of 1044 men recieved either an alpha blocker, placebo or no treatment
Studies
Nine randomised controlled trials were included
The number of study participants in each trial ranged from 44 to 360.
Studies from China, India, Singapore, Spain, the UK and USA
Interventions
An alpha blocker versus placebo or no treatment
One alpha blocker versus another alpha blocker
An alpha blocker versus another active treatment.
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Key study outcomes:
GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations) implemented to assess outcomes.
Moderate quality evidence that alpha blockers increase success of TWOC
Low quality evidence that alpha blockers reduce the risk of recurrent urinary retention.
Insufficient evidence to determine if the need for prostatic surgery is reduced.
Impact on quality of life, cost effectiveness of treatment and duration of treatment have not been assessed.
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Study Limitations:
Limited data due to large amount of unpublished data.
Flawed methodology in included trials.
Outcome measures including impact on quality of life, cost effectiveness of treatment and duration of treatment have not been assessed.
Some trials deemed as high risk of bias
Lack of standardisation of the definition of what constitutes a successful TWOC.
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