Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Assessment of bladder by urodynamic study (UDS) in patients with urinary incontinence following stroke, and correlation with site of lesion. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cross-sectional study in the neurological rehabilitation unit of a tertiary care institute. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty patients (22 males) with arterial or venous, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, with urinary incontinence in the acute phase following the event, underwent UDS. Seventeen patients had right hemiplegia, 18 had left hemiplegia, and five had posterior circulation stroke with brainstem/cerebellar features. Bladder type was correlated with age, side, and site of lesion. RESULTS: The mean age was 46.80 +/- 16.65 years (range: 18-80 years). Thirty-six patients had arterial stroke and four had cortical venous thrombosis. UDS was performed after a mean of 28.32 +/- 10.27 days (range: 8-53 days) after the stroke. All but one patient had neurogenic bladder dysfunction, with 36 patients (90%) having overactive detrusor (OD) and three having underactive/areflexic detrusor. Among the 36 patients with OD, 25 patients (62.5%) had OD without detrusor-sphincter dyssynergy (DSD) and 11 (27.5%) had OD with DSD. Bladder management was advised based on the UDS findings. No significant correlation (P > 0.05) was found between type of bladder and age or side and site of lesion. CONCLUSIONS: UDS is a useful tool to assess and manage the bladder following stroke with urinary incontinence. In this study, no significant correlation was found between UDS findings and site of lesion.