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. 2017 Mar-Apr;43(2):272-279.
doi: 10.1590/S1677-5538.IBJU.2016.0308.

Urethral Pressure Variation: A neglected contributing factor in patients with overactive bladder syndrome?

Kirschner-Hermanns Ruth  1 , Anding Ralf  1 , Gadzhiev Nariman  2 , Goping Ing  3 , Campbell Adele  3 , Huppertz Nadine  1
Affiliations

Urethral Pressure Variation: A neglected contributing factor in patients with overactive bladder syndrome?

Kirschner-Hermanns Ruth et al. Int Braz J Urol. 2017 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objective: To study urethral pressure variations during the whole filling phase among different groups of patients.

Material and methods: We investigated 79 consecutive patients from January 2011 to June 2012. All patients were recruited within our routine practice in our continence clinic and were evaluated with urodynamic exam according to the standards of the International Continence Society (ICS) with an additional continuous measurement of the urethral pressure profile (cUPP) that was done in a supine position. Patients with genital prolapse >grade I, as well as patients with impaired cognitive function or neurogenic disorders were excluded. Bacteriuria at the time of investigation was excluded by urine analysis. Urethral pressure changes higher than 15cmH2O were considered as 'urethral instability'.

Results: From 79 investigated patients, 29 were clinically diagnosed with OAB syndrome, 19 with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and 31 with mixed (OAB and SUI) incontinence. The prevalence of 'urethral instability' as defined in this study was 54.4% (43/79). The mean Δp in patients with OAB (36.5cmH2O) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in groups with pure stress (14.9cmH2O) and mixed urinary incontinence (19.3cmH2O).

Conclusions: Etiology of 'urethral instability' is unknown, but high prevalence among patients with overactive bladder syndrome, especially concomitant with detrusor activity can raise a fair question and direct further diagnostic as well as treatment efforts.

Keywords: Urethra; Urinary Bladder, Overactive; Urodynamics.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Urodynamic evaluation in a patient with DO (left) and SUI (right).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Diagram of variance of delta pressure between the groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Urethral Pressure in OAB patients with (left) or without (right) DO, single asterisk displays significance difference between the two groups determined with two-tailed t-test.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Area under the curve of cUPP in patients with OAB, MUI and SUI, applied trapezoidal rule calculated from min. pressure.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Representative FFT-Transformation of urethral pressure measures in a patient with OAB (above) and MUI (bottom).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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