[Usefulness of urethrocytologic studies in urinary incontinence]

Comparative cytological studies were conducted in urethra and vagina of 40 women with stress incontinence, another 40 with urge incontinence and 53 clinically intact women for morphological assessment of urinary incontinence. Evaluation was based on maturation index, maturation value, and dynamic estrogenicity index. During sexual maturity no significant difference regarding proliferability of urethral and vaginal epithelium was found existing between clinically intact women and patients with stress or urge incontinence. Differences of maturation values above 30 between urethral and vaginal cells were recordable only from post-menopause patients with urge incontinence, providing for certain possible conclusions as to the form of urinary incontinence. However, in post-menopause patients, oral and vaginal estriol therapy was followed by significant rise in intermedial and superficial cells in both organs. Improvement of stress and urge incontinence was recordable subjectively also from estriol therapy during sexual maturity, independent from urethral or vaginal cell patterns. Hence, urethral cytology is only conditionally suitable for differential diagnosis and optimization of therapy of urinary incontinence. Primarily it is suitable to coping for disturbances of micturition with an uncharacteristic urinary urge symptomatology or chronic urethritis.