Altered Voiding and Urinary Obstruction Flashcards
What are the potential sites that can cause urinary retention/incontinence?
- Brain
- Spinal cord
- Blockages: kidney, ureters
- Lower urinary tract symptoms: bladder, urethra, prostate, pelvic floor muscles
What are the categories of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS?)
What conditions/symptoms are included in each one?
Storage LUTS:
- Incontinence
- Urgency
- Frequency (doesn’t necessarily mean more production)
- Nocturia
Voiding LUTS:
- Poor stream
- Hesitancy
- Dysuria
- Intermittency
- Double voiding
- Retention
- Incomplete emptying
- Straining
Post-micturition LUTS:
- Terminal dribbling
Define urinary incontinence
What are the potential impacts of incontinence?
Involuntary loss of urine in sufficient amount or frequency to constitute a social and/or health problem.
- Major cause of morbidity and institutionalisation
- QoL impact
Define stress incontinence
What are its causes?
Occurs when pressure inside the bladder becomes greater than the strength of the sphincters to keep the urethra closed.
Often occurs on effort/exertion or when coughing/sneezing.
Causes:
- Pregnancy/obesity (raised intra abdominal pressure)
- Post child bearing: bladder neck hypermobility/ pelvic floor muscle weakness
Define urge incontinence
What are the causes?
Involuntary urinary leakage accompanied/preceded by an abrupt urge to void that is difficult to control.
Most common cause of urinary incontinence >50 years old.
Causes:
- Usually idiopathic
- Overactive bladder
- Infection
- Bladder stones
- Bladder cancer
- Stroke
- Dementia
- Parkinson’s disease
Define overflow incontinence
What can it be caused by?
Prolonged problems with bladder emptying lead to chronic urinary retention and detrusor muscle failure. Pressure eventually rises due to tissue overdistention and leakage occurs.
Causes:
- Enlarged prostate
- Bladder stones
- Constipation
- Spinal cord injury
Define functional incontinence
What can it be caused by?
Incontinence as the result of something not involving the urinary tract.
Causes:
- Mobility problems
- Dementia
- Diuretics
What focussed questions should be asked when taking a history to quantify urinary symptoms?
- Precipitating events, duration
- Medical/surgical history
- Medications
- Pad usage
What clinical examinations should be carried out on a person with incontinence?
- Pelvic
- Abdomen
- Digital rectal exam
- Neurological
- Mental state
- Mobility
What clinical investigations should be carried out for a person with incontinence?
- Urine dipstick/ MSU
- Urine MC&S
- Cytology
- FBC, U&Es, glucose
- Frequency-volume chart
- Cystometry
Define urodynamics
Study of pressure and flow during storage, transport and expulsion of urine in the lower urinary tract.
How does outflow cystometry work?
Urethral catheter is inserted into bladder and transducer into the rectum.
- Bladder is filled with fluid and pressures recorded in bladder and rectum
- Bladder emptied and pressures recorded
Bladder pressure = combined abdominal and detrusor pressure
Detrusor pressure = bladder pressure - rectum pressure
How is continuous incontinence treated?
- Urinary catheter
- Surgery
How is stress incontinence treated?
- Pelvic floor training
- Surgery
- Incontinence protection
How is urge incontinence treated?
- Avoid stimulants to detrusor muscle
- Bladder retraining
- Anticholinergics: Oxybutynin
- Surgery