Vesicourethral motility following acute spinal cord transection in the cat

The cause of urinary retention during the phase of spinal shock is still uncertain. In the cat with intact spinal cord, reflex voiding shows a coordination between the longitudinal and circular urethral muscles, the detrusor and the periurethral striated muscles. After transection of the spinal cord in cervical and/or thoracic segments, 26 of 28 cats failed to void. An incoordination between longitudinal, circular, detrusor and periurethral striated muscles was noticed simulating a urethro-urethral and urethrovesical dyssynergia. The 2 cats that voided 6 hours after the cord section showed a return of synergism between longitudinal, circular, detrusor and periurethral striated muscles. The conventional pharmacologic manipulation used during the early period following spinal cord transection, bethanechol chloride and phentolamine, failed to achieve proper bladder emptying because it did not correct the dyssynergic pattern.