[Clinical significance of urinary flow pattern--based on combined uroflowmetry and external sphincter...

We performed combined uroflowmetry and external sphincter electromyography in 108 patients (87 males and 21 females); 16 serving as normal controls, 49 with benign prostatic hyperplasia, 16 with overactive type of neurogenic bladder, 27 with underactive type of neurogenic bladder. Urinary flow pattern was classified into 5 categories. All of urinary flow patterns of normal controls showed pattern A which had the form of a bell. EMG showed complete suppression during micturition followed by a few intermittent increases in amplitude. Urinary flow patterns of BPH patients were distributed widely from pattern A to E. Intermittent increases in EMG amplitude during a late phase of micturition were characteristic in patients with BPH. We must pay attention to sex differences to evaluate urinary flow pattern because it could be influenced by abdominal pressure such as stressing or Créde maneuver in female patients with an underactive type of neurogenic bladder.