Dysuria Painful urination

Dysuria is the symptom of the urinary tract that corresponds to pain, burning or discomfort during urination, and is usually applicable in the urethra region.

Dysuria can occur exclusively during urination or persist after it, often associated with other symptoms, such as changes in the color or smell of urine, hematuria, urethral discharge, increased urinary frequency, nocturia, incontinence, urethral pain, perineal pain, scrotal pain, suprapubic pain, lower back pain or pain with sexual activity.

In most cases, dysuria originates from acute inflammatory and infectious processes of the lower urinary and genital tract (bladder, prostate, urethra, testis, epididymis and vagina), such as urinary tract infections, acute cystitis, acute prostatitis, acute orchiepididymitis, urethritis and vaginitis.

In addition to acute inflammatory processes, it may also be associated with chronic inflammatory processes, such as chronic pelvic pain syndrome (in the form of interstitial cystitis or chronic prostatitis), or originate in obstructive pictures of the distal ureter, such as renal colic. Finally, some malignant diseases can also present with dysuria, such as prostate tumors or bladder tumors, and in these cases, dysuria is associated with the disease in a more advanced stage.

In regard to complementary diagnostic testing, taking into account the multiplicity of possible causes, an assessment of dysuria depends mainly on accompanying symptoms, and may consist of carrying out analysis (urinary sediment, urine culture, urethral exudate culture), ultrasounds (bladder ultrasound with measurement of post-voiding residue, prostate ultrasound, scrotal ultrasound, renal ultrasound), functional studies (uroflowmetry or urodynamic study) or endoscopic exams (urethrocystoscopy).