Over a 9 month period 18 women were admitted for acute urinary retention to six different Copenhagen hospitals, serving a population of approximately 700,000 people. Urodynamically 9 patients had underactive detrusor function, 2 had infravesical obstruction and 3 had both underactive detrusor function and infravesical obstruction. In 4 patients bladder and urethral function were not classified. In 10 patients a provocative event preceded the retention episode. Eleven patients developed recurrent retention within 3 months and 7 patients had persistent severe obstructive voiding problems. Best prognosis was found for patients with correctable infravesical obstruction and for patients with minimal symptoms prior to the retention episode.

Although this study did not prove estramustine phosphate to be superior to placebo in terms of protocol end points, it generates the hypothesis that prolonged survival may be achieved with estramustine phosphate treatment in a subgroup of patients and that this may be predicted by a decrease in PSA after 1 month of therapy.