Bladder Injury During Surgery: Signs, Risks & What to Do

Although the state of medical science is constantly decreasing the risks associated with surgery, human error can still occur, subjecting you to the potential for harm while under the knife. In surgeries involves in the intestinal tract and lower portion of the torso such as a Cesarean section, colectomy or hysterectomy, the bladder is potentially at risk for injury during the operation. Realizing when bladder injury has occurred can help to minimize the effects.

Instructions

• 1

  Understand that most bladder injuries occurring during surgery are swiftly detected by the operating staff. Therefore, in many cases you need do nothing--at the end of the surgery they will simply inform you that you have sustained bladder injury during the operation combined with suggesting a course of action for treatment.

• 2

  Look for symptoms that would indicate a potential bladder injury where you suspect bladder injury that went undetected during the procedure. According to information from Merck.com, the symptoms resulting from a bladder injury include the presence of blood in the urine, pelvic pain, lower abdominal pain and difficulty urinating.

• 3

  Bring symptoms to your doctor's attention as soon as possible so that he can act on the situation. The likely outcome is that bladder testing will be required through the use of cystography (injection of a radioactive dye) combined with use of a computed tomography (imaging scan) or x-ray to search for damage.