Detrusor wall thickness compared to other non-invasivemethods in diagnosing men with bladder outletobstruction: A prospective controlled study

Abstract

Introduction: The current study aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy of detrusor wall thickness to othernoninvasive, tools, using pressure flow studies as a reference, in the assessment of bladder outlet, obstructionamong men presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms.

Patients and Methods: Men aged 50 or older presenting with lower urinary tract symptoms were evaluatedfor bladder outlet, obstruction using detrusor wall thickness (measured by a transabdominal 7.5 MHz ultra-sound) and, other non-invasive tools (namely uroflowmetry, post-void residual, and prostate volume), andthe results were compared to pressure flow study.

Results: Detrusor wall thickness ranged from 0.7 mm to 7 mm (mean ± SD of 2.39 ± 1.64 mm), and 21patients, were classified as obstructed (thickness ≥ 2 mm). Based on pressure flow study 23 patients had,bladder outlet obstruction. Detrusor wall thickness had the highest accuracy (88.0%), the highest, specificity(92.6%) and the highest positive predictive value (90.5%) among the non-invasive tests.

Keywords: Bladder; Detrusor; Lower urinary tractsymptoms; Male; Prostatic hyperplasia; Prostatic outflowobstruction; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound