Transient urinary retention in acute right lateral medullary infarction

Abstract

Urinary disturbance has rarely been reported in patients with a medullary lesion. We evaluated a patient with acute infarction in the right lateral medulla who had voiding difficulty as an initial manifestation. Urodynamic study showed detrusor areflexia on voiding, and the voiding symptom completely recovered 2 weeks after the stroke onset. The urinary retention in this patient might be caused by interruption of descending fibers from facilitatory pontine tegmentum micturition centers.