[Xenon exhalation measurements in the diagnosis of bladder diseases]

Using an exhalameter radioactive marked Xenon, absorbed following bladder instillation, was determined in the expired air of 111 patients. In 65 of these patients the usual criteria in the diagnosis of bladder diseases were simultaneously ascertained. The functional disturbances of the epithelium of the bladder obtained through 133Xenon exhalation measurements did not correlate with the morphological changes. Especially in the so-called "Reizblase" (irritable bladder) functional disturbances were found without a morphological equivalent. Compared with the low Xenon exhalation found in patients with healthy urinary bladders there is a marked Xenon exhalation increase (10-15 times) in inflammation of the urinary bladder. In our opinion Xenon exhalation measurements is at the present time the most sensitive method for determining inflammatory diseases of the urinary bladder.