Detrusor pressure rise in a normal bladder
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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Detrusor Underactivity Model in Rats by Conus Medullaris Transection
Published on: August 28, 2020
Edward F Wahl1, Bernard M Churchill
1Clark-Morrison Children's Urological Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA. edwahl@alum.mit.edu
Objective:
To determine the detrusor pressure rise of a normal bladder (P(cap,NL)) when filled to capacity.
Patients And Methods:
Twenty-four patients with an apparently normal bladder, i.e. with symptoms but whose cystometrogram (CMG) showed no pathology of any kind and a near-normal pressure vs volume plot, were selected from 218 clinical CMGs. A straight line was fitted to the PV plot of these CMGs and then the P(cap,NL) calculated, e.g. by a straight line extending to the point of the normal expected cystometric bladder capacity (V(cap.NL)). Published data relative to P(cap,NL) were evaluated and compared with the values obtained.
Results:
The mean (range) P(cap,NL) was 6 (4.5-7) cmH2O for patients with apparently normal bladders infused at the maximum physiological diuresis (MPD). This value was substantiated by three other studies of published values. The P(cap,NL) was 6 cmH2O at infusion rates of 10% of glomerular filtration rate (GFR), 10 cmH2O at 20% of GFR and 7-15 cmH2O for 3-10 times the infusion rate of 10% of GFR.
Conclusion:
P(cap,NL) is independent of age, size and sex and, at constant infusion rates of approximately MPD, will be 6. For infusion rates up to 35 mL/min, it is in the range of 6-15 cmH2O.
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