Clinical significance of ureteric diameter on intravenous urography after spinal cord injury

Botulinum toxin A detrusor injections in patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity significantly decrease the incidence of symptomatic urinary tract infections

OBJECTIVES

To study the effect of botulinum toxin A (BoNTA) injections into the detrusor muscle on the incidence of symptomatic urinary infections in patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity.

METHODS

Between February 2004 and June 2005, 30 patients (18 men, 12 women), mean age 39.4+/-12.1 yr, with neurogenic detrusor overactivity received an injection of 300 U Botox (Allergan Inc., Irvine, CA, USA) into the detrusor. Fifteen patients had multiple sclerosis, 14 had spinal cord injury, and 1 had myelitis. Twenty-two patients had urinary incontinence. Patients were either resistant to anticholinergic medications, had discontinued treatment because of adverse effects, or had contraindications to anticholinergic drugs. Before and 6 wk after injection, each patient kept a bladder diary and underwent urodynamic investigation, retrograde and voiding cystourethrography, and urine culture. All symptomatic urinary infections (pyelonephritis, orchitis, prostatitis) occurring in the 6 mo before and the 6 mo after injection were recorded.

RESULTS

Before injection, the mean number of symptomatic urinary infections over 6 mo was 1.75+/-1.87. After injection, the mean was 0.2+/-0.41 (p=0.003), and only 3 patients presented symptomatic urinary infections. These patients were those who showed less improvement in their urodynamic parameters after injection (volume of the first uninhibited contraction, maximum bladder pressure, and maximum cystometric capacity, respectively; p=0.0037, p=0.0002, p=0.0027, ANOVA).

CONCLUSIONS

BoNTA injections into the detrusor muscle significantly decreased the incidence of symptomatic urinary infections. This effect seems to be related to improvement in urodynamic parameters, reflecting improved reservoir capacity at low pressure.

Flawed trial of micturition in cervical spinal cord injury patients: guidelines for trial of voiding in men with tetraplegia

STUDY DESIGN

A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES

(1) To raise awareness of flawed trial of micturition (TOM) in male spinal cord injury (SCI) patients; and (2) to present guidelines for trial of voiding in male SCI patients.

SETTING

Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, UK.

METHODS

Trial of micturition in male SCI patients refers to discarding indwelling catheters and establishing them on balanced voiding with penile sheath drainage. We describe seven SCI patients, whose trial of micturition was flawed.

RESULTS

Two patients (C-6 and C-4 tetraplegia respectively) developed severe autonomic dysreflexia (headache, sweating, and increase in blood pressure) 2-3 h after removal of urethral catheter. A C-4 tetraplegic developed severe urinary infection after TOM. Four patients with tetraplegia started retaining increasing amounts of urine and developed urinary infections/autonomic dysreflexia/hydronephrosis 1-21 months after they were established on sheath drainage after TOM.

CONCLUSION

During TOM, patients with cervical SCI could develop autonomic dysreflexia, urinary infection, or hold progressively increasing volumes of residual urine. TOM should be guided by videourodynamics. SCI patients need alpha-blockers, and anticholinergics if voiding pressures are >40-50 cm H(2)O. If high urethral resistances are found, sphincterotomy and/or bladder neck incision will help the patients to void by triggering. SCI patients, who had undergone successful TOM, require meticulous follow-up including urodynamics. Intermittent catheterisation without adequate medications based on cystometrogram may be hazardous, and may result in upper tract damage. Facilities for supplementary catheterisation (three to four times a day) should be available in the community if a patient is unable to maintain complete, low-pressure, emptying of bladder.

Pathogenesis of bacteriuria and infection in the spinal cord injured patient

Spinal cord injury (SCI) produces profound alterations in lower urinary tract function. Incontinence, elevated intravesical pressure, reflux, stones, and neurological obstruction, commonly found in the spinal cord-injured population, increase the risk of urinary infection. The overall rate of urinary infection in SCI patient is about 2.5 episodes per patient per year. Despite improved methods of treatment, urinary tract morbidity still ranks as the second leading cause of death in the SCI patient.SCI removes the ability of the pontine micturition center and higher centers in the brain to inhibit, control, or coordinate the activity of the vesicourethral unit. As a result, a patient with complete quadriplegia is typically unaware of bladder activity. Bladder contraction is accompanied by vesicosphincter dyssynergia instead of sphincter relaxation. It is widely accepted that intermittent catheterization, when compared with indwelling catheters, reduces the risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) in SCI patients and is the preferred method of bladder drainage in this patient population. Attempts at eliminating bacteriuria associated with indwelling or intermittent catheters have generally been unsuccessful. There is now appreciation of the fact that a creeping adherent biofilm of bacteria frequently ascends through the luminal and external surfaces of an indwelling catheter, often within 8 to 24 hours, leading to bacterial adherence to the bladder surface and correlating with symptomatic infection. The use of antimicrobial agents to clear or prevent bacteriuria in patients on indwelling or intermittent catheterization has had mixed success. Treatment for asymptomatic bacteriuria in SCI patients remains controversial. SCI patients with symptomatic urinary infections should be treated with the most specific, narrowest spectrum antibiotics available for the shortest possible time. Guidelines for selecting antimicrobial agents in SCI patients are similar to guidelines for the treatment of complicated urinary infections in the general population. Characteristics of the quinolones make them well suited to treating UTI in the SCI patient.

Influence of urinary management on urologic complications in a cohort of spinal cord injury patients

OBJECTIVE

To study urologic complications in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) in relation to their bladder management.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A cohort study of patients with SCI in a rehabilitation center.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred eighty-two patients were studied; demographic data, disease characteristics, and urologic history were obtained for each.

INTERVENTION

Patients responding to a questionnaire were given a clinical exam. Their medical records were reviewed, with particular attention given to the following urologic complications: lithiasis, urinary infections, orchiepididymitis, urethral trauma, vesicorenal reflux, and renal failure.

RESULTS

Results are reported for 123 patients. Time since SCI was 8 years. Intermittent catheterization was the main method of bladder management. Only 32 patients had changed their method of vesical voiding. Urinary complications had developed in 75% of patients. The most common complication was urinary infection. Vesicoureteral reflux occurred in 26% of patients using percussion. Trauma related to catheterization was the main problem with intermittent catheterization, responsible for a high rate of orchiepididymitis.

CONCLUSION

Intermittent catheterization is the most-used method of bladder management, but with a nonnegligible rate of urethral trauma in men. Percussion and Credé maneuver appear to be acceptable techniques of bladder management if the patient is closely monitored.