Lumbosacral dysraphism as cause of neurogenic bladder: Magnetic Resonance Imaging based study from SIUT Pakistan

To find the frequency and types of spinal dysraphism in patients presenting with neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, from February to September 2011, and comprised patients of either gender 5-15 years of age with neurogenic bladder suspected to be due to lumbosacral dysraphism. They all had magnetic resonance imaging of lumbosacral spine. All images were reviewed by an experienced radiologist and patients were diagnosed as having spinal dysraphism and were categorised according to the radiological features. Data was analysed using SPSS 10.

Of the 175 patients in the study, 96(55%) were males and 79(45%) were females with an overall mean age of 7.3±2.15 years (range: 5-15 years). Spinal bony defects were found in 110(62.8%) patients, and of these, 96(87%) had spinal dysraphism. Myelomeningocele, meningocele and sacral agenesis was found in 58(60.4%) of the 96 patient with spinal dysraphism.

Spinal dysraphism is the most common cause of neurogenic bladder in children up to 15 years of age and myelomeningocele, meningocele and sacral agenesis comprised more than 60% of such cases.