[Echographic investigation of normal and pathological voiding (author's transl)]

A new urodynamic method is described which is based upon the principle of measuring the anteroposterior diameter of the urinary bladder during micturition by ultrasound. A 4 MHz transducer is placed vertically on the abdominal wall 6 to 7 cm above the symphysis and kept in a constant position by means of a special device. The continuously decreasing bladder diameter during micturition is recorded by M-mode echography (Echopan K, Siemens) and plotted as a diameter-time curve. Normals can be differentiated from patients with a subvesical outflow obstruction or a neurogenic disturbance of bladder emptying. For quantification the mean velocity of bladder diameter shortening during the first 30 seconds of micturition is calculated and correlated with the maximal uroflow (r = 0,77). Therefore a rough quantitative measurement of micturition seems to be possible.