Electromyography of the detrusor muscle

In order to diagnose and treat patients with micturitional disturbances it is necessary to obtain as much information as possible about the function of the lower urinary tract in each case. We studied 70 female patients with micturitional disturbances by monitoring pulse, respiration, intrinsic bladder pressure, urine flow rate and volume, and detrusor and sphincter electromyograms during a 2 to 4-hour period. As earlier investigators have shown, there are 2 types of detrusor electromyograms: low frequency and high frequency activity. The low frequency activity is random in nature and has definite patterns in disturbed bladder function. It is a useful diagnostic parameter and, when considered with the results of the sphincter electromyograms and pressure recordings, it provides much diagnostic information in this group of patients. The high frequency activity is similar to that of striated muscle.