title: The after-contraction in paediatric urodynamics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the incidence and significance of the urodynamic registration of an after-contraction in the bladder of children.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective study, 250 children with a non-neurogenic voiding dysfunction (132 girls and 118 boys) were assessed for the occurrence of after-contractions during their video-urodynamic examination, and any filling-phase dysfunction noted. Twenty children in whom an after-contraction was recorded underwent additional voiding cystometry with three pressure transducers in the bladder (two microtip and one external transducer connected to a fluid-filled catheter).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 250 children, an after-contraction was registered in 84 (63 girls and 21 boys). Eighty of these had a filling-phase dysfunction; 51 had detrusor instability, 16 a hypersensitive bladder, six a low and seven a high compliance. Only four showed a normal cystometric pattern during filling. In the 20 children who underwent further study, the after-contraction was confirmed as a detrusor contraction, as it was registered simultaneously on three transducers of two types in 10 children and on two microtip transducers in another 10 children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The after-contraction is a frequent occurrence in children with voiding dysfunction, is related to bladder instability and is a genuine detrusor contraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Hoebeke
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Van Gool
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Van Laecke
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vande Walle
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Plancke
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D011312:Pressure; D011446:Prospective Studies; D001745:Urinary Bladder Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014563:Urodynamics