Abstract
BACKGROUND Automated bladder scanning has become a principal tool in the assessment and management of chronically debilitated patients residing in skilled nursing facilities, hospices, and acute inpatient settings. To a large extent, the bladder scan, generally performed by nursing staff, has replaced physical examination while addressing the differential diagnoses of anuria or voiding disturbances that require consideration of urinary catheterization. Health care providers can quickly master this easily performed technique, and currently, due to confidence in the bladder scan finding, physical examination with suprapubic palpation and percussion may be carelessly omitted. The case description presented here illustrates how not performing a physical examination can lead to misdiagnosis caused by misinterpretation of bladder scan findings. CASE REPORT A 66-year-old, quadriparetic, chronically ventilated female patient with achondroplasia underwent repeated hospital referrals and bladder catheterizations for presumed flaccid, neurogenic bladder with urinary retention. This postulated diagnosis was based on occasional reports of urinary catheter obstruction as well as on automated bladder scanning indicating a markedly distended bladder. However, the bladder could not be drained by insertion of urinary catheters. Eventually, a proper physical examination excluded the presence of suprapubic fullness compatible with distended bladder and contradicting bladder scan findings, prompting re-examining an overlooked evaluation of computed tomography that reported a huge ovarian cyst. The patient was found to have intact voiding capabilities and is now weaned from the catheter. CONCLUSIONS This case and the literature review underscore drawbacks in automated bladder scanning. This technique should be used as an adjunctive measure rather than a replacement for a physical examination in the evaluation of voiding disturbances, especially when there are discrepancies between bladder scan findings and the volume of urine drained by catheterization.