Bladder outlet obstruction in women: difficulties in the diagnosis

To identify the difficulties in diagnosing bladder outlet obstruction in women.

53 women with a mean age of 37.2 (range 16-70) with chronic lower urinary tract symptoms and no neurogenic or organic diseases were examined. The prevalent symptoms were frequency (96%), urgency (92%) and nocturia (75%), and the mean duration of symptoms was 3.8 years. After pressure-flow studies and voiding cystourethrography were conducted, patients either underwent bladder neck or urethral incisions based on their diagnosis. These patients were subsequently subjected to follow-up uroflow studies.

Abnormal uroflow curves were observed in 19 of 53 women. In 10 of them (52.6%), bladder outlet obstruction based on pressure-flow results was confirmed. Voiding cystourethrography results from these 19 women confirmed that 17 patients had bladder neck obstruction, while the remaining 2 had urethral obstruction. 16 of 19 were treated endoscopically, with 14 patients undergoing bladder neck incisions through the 5- and 7-o'clock positions and 2 patients having a distal urethral incision through the 12-o'clock position. In all of these 16 cases, there were both a statistical increase in the maximum flow rate (Qmax) as well as an improvement in the flow curves. Symptomatic improvement was observed in 12 of the 16 women subjected to surgical intervention.

Bladder outlet obstruction exists in women with lower urinary tract symptoms. Pressure-flow studies and voiding cystourethrography are reliable modalities for confirming bladder outlet obstruction. Bladder outlet obstruction can be functionally or structurally caused.