Acute urinary retention can be a common postoperative complication following hysterectomy. One of the many benefits of minimally invasive surgery is shorter hospital stay following a major procedure such as laparoscopic or robotic hysterectomy. An important postoperative milestone before discharge from the postoperative anesthesia care unit (PACU) is spontaneous voiding. If unable to spontaneously void due to urinary retention, insertion of an indwelling catheter may be required. Awaiting a spontaneous void in the recovery room can lead to longer hospital and PACU stays, greater cost, and patient dissatisfaction. At the conclusion of traditional laparoscopic or robotic-assisted hysterectomy, intraoperative cystoscopy is performed to evaluate for urologic injury. One possible strategy to more quickly facilitate a postoperative spontaneous void is to retain the cystoscopy distending fluid at conclusion of cystoscopy rather than emptying the bladder of the distending fluid. Although there is no published research investigating voiding time following laparoscopic or robotic hysterectomy using strategies such as backfilling the bladder before removal of the indwelling catheter or retaining the cystoscopy distending fluid following diagnostic cystoscopy.
