Overflow incontinence

Overflow incontinence
Other names	ischuria paradoxa
CT scan in the sagittal plane which reveals a greatly enlarged urinary bladder caused by urinary retention, a condition which often leads to overflow incontinence.
Specialty	Urology

Overflow incontinence is a concept of urinary incontinence, characterized by the involuntary release of urine from an overfull urinary bladder, often in the absence of any urge to urinate. This condition occurs in people who have a blockage of the bladder outlet (benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, or narrowing of the urethra), or when the muscle that expels urine from the bladder is too weak to empty the bladder normally. Overflow incontinence may also be a side effect of certain medications.

The term overflow incontinence is also used in fecal incontinence, and refers to the situation where there is a large mass of feces in the rectum (fecal loading), which may become hardened (fecal impaction). Liquid stool elements can pass around the obstruction, leading to incontinence.^[1]