Pediatrics & Painful Urination

Some urinary problems affect people of all ages, while others are unique to children. If your child is experiencing painful urination, a urologist with experience in pediatrics can help to diagnose the cause and offer you treatment suggestions.

Painful Urination

• According to the National Institutes of Health, painful urination in a child involves sensations of stinging or burning when he empties his bladder.

Infection

• A urinary tract infection occurs when bacteria enters a child's urinary tract and causes inflammation and painful urination.

Physical Abnormalities

• Some cases of pediatric painful urination are caused by physical abnormalities. In a child with a ureterocele, the portion of a ureter closest to her bladder is too narrow for urine to pass through normally. A child with urachal abnormalities still has part of the connection between her bladder and her umbilical cord in place after birth, when it should have disappeared during the 20th week of gestation.

Considerations

• According to the American Urological Association, most physical abnormalities that cause painful urination are detected when patients are still children and corrected.

Treatment

• Pediatric urinary tract infections are treated with antibiotics. Physical abnormalities are treated surgically. A ureterocele can be corrected by removing the ureterocele and reconnecting the ureter to the bladder. Removing the urachal connection will correct urachal abnormalities.