Strangury (or stranguria) is the symptom characterized by painful, frequent

urination Urination, also known as micturition, is the release of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresis, ...

of small volumes that are expelled slowly only by straining and despite a severe sense of urgency, usually with the residual feeling of incomplete emptying. The origin of the term is late 14th-century

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

from Latin , from Greek, from , 'a drop squeezed out' + 'urine.'strangury. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved July 28, 2015, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/strangury These 'drops' of urine are 'squeezed out' in what patients describe as painful 'wrenching' spasms. The pain is felt to arise in the

suprapubic The hypogastrium (also called the hypogastric region or suprapubic region) is a region of the abdomen located below the umbilical region. Etymology The roots of the word ''hypogastrium'' mean "below the stomach"; the roots of ''suprapubic'' mean ...

region, extends up to the root of the

genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

and in male patients, to the tip of the penis. This distressing desire to fully void despite its impossibility is attributed to the irritation of

urothelium Transitional epithelium also known as urothelium is a type of stratified epithelium. Transitional epithelium is a type of tissue that changes shape in response to stretching (stretchable epithelium). The transitional epithelium usually appears ...

(

epithelium Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellul ...

lining the urinary tract), especially of the

trigone Trigone may refer to: * Trigone of the lateral ventricle * Trigone of urinary bladder The trigone (a.k.a. vesical trigone) is a smooth triangular region of the internal urinary bladder formed by the two ureteric orifices and the internal ure ...

, and subsequent spasm of muscles. It is seen in numerous urological conditions including

kidney stone Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...

s, (especially when a stone is impacted at the vesicourethral junction),

bladder stones A bladder stone is a stone found in the urinary bladder. Signs and symptoms Bladder stones are small mineral deposits that can form in the bladder. In most cases bladder stones develop when the urine becomes very concentrated or when one is d ...

, bladder

inflammation Inflammation (from la, wikt:en:inflammatio#Latin, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or Irritation, irritants, and is a protective response involving im ...

(

cystitis A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidney ...

), and

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

References

External links

{{Medical resources , ICD10 = R30.0 , ICD9 = , MeshID = , MedlinePlus = Symptoms and signs: Urinary system Traditional Chinese medicine