Diagnosis and management of nocturnal enuresis

Abstract

Purpose of review: To highlight recent advances in enuresis research.

Recent findings: Many discoveries have distanced us from the time when bedwetting was considered a psychiatric disorder. Instead, it is now agreed that nocturnal polyuria, detrusor overactivity, and high arousal thresholds are, in various combinations, central to enuresis pathogenesis. All three mechanisms have been further elucidated during the last year. It has been found that solute diuresis, and not just free-water diuresis due to vasopressin deficiency, may be causative. Sonographical bladder wall measurements have been shown to have prognostic value in detrusor-dependent enuresis, and fascinating proof for the interplay between the bladder and the sleeping brain has been put forward. And, ironically, sleep research has caused psychiatry to make a slight comeback, as studies have indicated that enuretic children may suffer from cognitive problems due to suboptimal sleep. Less has been achieved regarding treatment, but some evidence has finally supported the experience that anticholinergics may be effective in therapy-resistant enuresis.

Summary: During the last years, increased insight has been gained into the multifaceted pathogenesis of enuresis, but there is still an irritating lack of proven effective therapies.